


Mama I'm Strange

by corikane



Category: Pitch Perfect (2012)
Genre: Coming Out, F/F, F/M, Family Drama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-10
Updated: 2013-03-01
Packaged: 2017-11-28 20:22:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 34,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/678523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corikane/pseuds/corikane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The year is almost over and Beca gets a surprise visit from her mother, Grace. And the older woman surely knows how to shake things up in the DJ's life. (No copyright infringement intended.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"You really think so?"  
"Not that she would ever admit to it," Chloe told Beca and grinned. They were sitting on the backrest of one of the many benches on campus, watching some of the Trebles give one of their impromptu performances. While looking at Beca Chloe noticed an older woman coming toward them and she looked fairly familiar. The tall brunette stranger put her finger to her lips for Chloe not to alert Beca.  
"Not Aubrey, she would never admit..."  
"Hello, angel," the woman threw her arms around Beca and hugged her tightly from behind.  
"WHAT THE...? What, mom? What're you doing here?" The DJ hopped from the bench and returned the hug.  
"I'm coming to visit, obviously," Grace Thomas answered her daughter.  
"Why, I mean, how? I thought I would see you in a couple of weeks," Beca smiled. She was really glad to see her mom, and really surprised.  
"Well, Justin has a business meeting over in New Orleans and he asked if he should drop me off and pick me back up in a couple of days. And I said: hell, yeah!" Grace laughed and so did Beca. Chloe still sat on the bench but observed the scene smiling brightly.  
"You're together with Justin again?" Beca asked ready to roll her eyes on the on-again, off-again resilience of that particular relationship.  
"No, we're not together. He was just being a friend because he knows I miss my little angel," Grace stroked her daughter's cheek.  
"Oh, mom, please... I'm no angel," Beca squirmed out of the embrace now and turned to her friend. "I want you to meet someone, this is Chloe," she introduced the redhead.  
"It's so great to finally meet you, Chloe. Beca has told me so much about you... and all the other Bellas," she added.  
"She talks about you a lot, too, I'm happy to meet you," Chloe answered with a warm smile.  
"So, how long are you gonna be here?" Beca asked her mom.  
"I'm not sure myself. Justin said something about four days but it could be longer - or shorter, I guess. Y'know his business.."  
"Actually no, I never got what he's actually doing. Have you?" Grace just shrugged.  
"He will call when he's ready to pick me up again, so..."  
"So, where're you staying? 'Cause I don't think my roommate would tolerate a four-night-long sleepover with my mom," Beca said and rolled her eyes.  
"Don't worry, I've found a B&B not too far from here. It's cheap and it's clean and the lady who runs it is really inquisitive. I feel like I've accidentally entered an episode of Gilmore Girls, only with a different accent," Grace said and laughed. Gilmore Girls was her favorite show, she liked to think that she and her daughter were a little like Lorelai and Rory - if Rory was an aspiring, sarcastic DJ with scary ear-piercings, and Lorelai an artist/nurse.  
"Sounds perfect, you wanna go back and take a nap, or something?" Beca asked and Grace looked at her comically.  
"Take a nap? How old do you think I am, Beca?"  
"I just thought that if you have come all the way from home today - you did come by car, right? - you're probably exhausted. I would be," Beca reasoned.  
"Well, we actually drove through the night, or rather, Justin was driving and I was sleeping, so, I'm very well rested. Unless you have other plans... with Chloe, here?"  
"No, we... no, we didn't have any plans," the brunette stammered.  
"Great, then I'm going to invite you two to lunch. You have to pick the spot, obviously, because I don't know where's the best place to eat around here. They should have vegetarian, though," she told Chloe and the redhead smiled.  
"I know just the place, but I would really like to invite you two," Chloe said.  
"I won't hear of it. You guys are students, you shouldn't spent your money on your parents and especially not somebody else's parent," Grace told the girls. Chloe grinned a little sheepishly, her parents were providing her with enough money that she could actually invite all the Bellas to every meal of every day of the month and would still be able to cover all her other expenses. But she didn't want to bring that up infront of Beca's mom since Beca obviously hadn't told her that she was loaded.

Half an hour later they sat at a table in a cozy place called 'Chez Chuck's.' It was a queer mix of French and American cuisine, not too expensive and delicious, at least Chloe thought so. And Beca and Grace had to agree after they tasted their respective meals.  
"Wonderful. This is really good. Have you eaten here before, honey?" She asked her daughter but Beca shook her head.  
"She has actually eaten from here a couple of times. Those sandwiches you like so much, they make them," Chloe told her.  
"Really? I love those," Beca confirmed and Chloe giggled.  
"I know that's why I get them when I know you're working at the station," the redhead said.  
"You feed my daughter when she's working. I think I owe you a lot more than lunch, then."  
"No, you don't owe me anything. It's what friends do for each other," Chloe disagreed and took another bite of her salad.  
"Well, then I'm glad Beca has such a good friend, Chloe." The redhead just smiled and Grace turned toward her daughter. "So, I haven't heard from you since you called from New York - drunk, I might add..." Beca had the decency to blush. She had called her mother from the ICCA-party - or rather the party after the ICCA-party, since the official party didn't provide alcohol for minors. So, they had returned to the hostel where they had stayed, those over 21 had gotten some alcohol and then they had partied pretty much with the whole hostel until they had to leave for the airport. They had been lucky they had been allowed on the plane. But mostly everybody had been too tired to make much of a fuss for the flight personnel.  
"We had just won the ICCAs, mom... I mean... I wasn't that drunk," she laughed lightly but Chloe had to actually suppress her laughter. Beca had been completely hammered that night, not that she herself wasn't. Only, Chloe tended to remember things she did when drunk, Beca seemed to have lost a couple of hours of that particular night.  
Grace looked from her daughter to her friend and then back at her daughter, lifting an eyebrow.  
"Not that drunk, huh? You sang some 80s song into my ear, at 1.30 in the morning, angel. I think we can all agree that you were toasted." She wasn't angry, Beca could tell. "Do you even remember what we talked about?"  
"Ah, I told you that we won, then I sang 'Don't you forget about me' and..."  
"And you told me about a young man named Jesse who you said was your boyfriend," Grace reminded Beca.  
"Right, I told you about Jesse," Beca smiled. She didn't remember but, of course, she had told her mother about her boyfriend.  
"Yeah, something about him being cute with puppy eyes and that he likes movies too much."  
"So, basically what I would have told you had I been sober," Beca declared. She looked at Chloe who nodded.  
"And you guys are still together, Jesse and you?" Grace asked and Beca nodded.  
"Yeah, sure, why wouldn't we be?"  
"I was wondering if maybe... that was just something that happened because you were drunk, maybe? It happens - it sure happened to me when I was in college. Before I met your dad, that is," Grace confessed. She was looking intently at her daughter and Beca wasn't sure where her mom was going with this. She had an idea but it was a topic she found a little sensible and she didn't want to talk about it infront of Chloe.  
"But I told you about Jesse before that night, right? We were... I mean, we were friends and... I told you that I liked him," Beca said.  
"You have told me of a lot of people you met and liked, so, I didn't think much of it. But if you're together, I would, of course, like to meet him while I'm here," Grace told her daughter and the DJ nodded.  
"Sure, we can do that. But not today, we have practice later..."  
"I thought practice was over. I mean, you won that competition, right?" Beca rolled her eyes at this and Chloe giggled.  
"Well, if we were in any group but the Bellas practice would be over but this is Aubrey's last year, so... she wants to make sure we're fulfilling our Bella-duties and keep up the good work. So, she's trying to take us hostage as long as possible." Chloe laughed. For once, she agreed with Beca's assessment of Aubrey's behavior these days.  
"She sounds... a little scary," Grace said and both Bellas nodded.  
"She is a little scary but... mostly she will just miss us all," Chloe said but Beca snorted.  
"Yeah, I bet she's gonna miss me. She told me last week that she had a nightmare of wolves attacking all the Bellas and ripping out their vocal chords - those wolves were wearing dark red blazers and had boygroup dance-moves..." Beca looked meaningfully at Chloe who laughed.  
"She's just worried that now we all get treble-boned," Chloe said but it was Beca who blushed when her mother cleared her throat.  
"Treble-boned?" Beca's mother asked.  
"Our rivals, the Treblemakers - Aubrey hates them with a passion but Jesse is one of them," she explained.  
"And no one's getting boned, honestly. I mean..." Beca stammered and blushed some more. She looked at Chloe intently but the redhead just shrugged.  
"Beca, have I ever told you not to have sex?" Grace asked her daughter who looked like she was close to a heart-attack. But she managed to shake her head. "All I ask of you is to use protection so you won't get pregnant or catch something, okay?"  
"Yes, mom," Beca ground out. She stared at the remains of lunch, suddenly not hungry anymore.  
"Do you have a boyfriend, Chloe?" Grace asked her daughter's friend.  
"No, I don't. I like to keep it casual but at the moment, I like to be single," Chloe told Grace and the older woman nodded.  
"I think that's very wise for someone so young. I mean, I got married out of college and that was a mistake."  
"Mom?" Beca said.  
"You know, your father and I didn't work out. I think we were too young, we shouldn't have gotten married but your grandmother insisted," Grace continued, unfazed by her daughter's discomfiture. "I was already pregnant with Beca and Ken's mother made an aweful fuss about us not wanting to get married. She finally got Beca's father to talk me into it." Grace shook her head at the memory.  
"But you were happy for some time," Beca argued.  
"Of course, we were happy, darling. We had you and you were the most adorable little baby girl. Well, you still are adorable," her mother took Beca's chin into her hand and looked at her lovingly. Chloe grinned at her friend who blushed a bright color.  
"Mooom...," Beca groused and Grace laughed. She let go of her and turned toward Chloe again.  
"Beca told me you're graduating this year?"  
"Well, actually no. I'm staying for my master's in psychology," Chloe beamed. Beca screeched. She leaned over to hug her friend who giggled. Some of the other patron's looked over but Beca didn't care. They had talked about Chloe's options now that she would have her bachelor's degree but Chloe hadn't been sure if she wanted to continue - obviously that had changed.  
"You're really staying?"  
"Yeah, I'm staying," they looked at each other, both grinning from ear to ear. Grace watched them amusedly. She wondered if her daughter was aware of how cute she and her 'best friend' looked together or of how long they had been staring into each other's eyes now. She would bet anything that Beca ignored these thing, the way she always did.  
"That sounds great. Are you planning on a doctoral-degree?" Grace asked the redhead who turned toward her still beaming.  
"I'm not sure yet. My dad would love it, of course," and at Grace's questioning look she said: "My dad is a psycho-analyst." Grace nodded. "But I don't know... You can't do much with a bachelor in psychology but the fields opens when you got your master's, so, there're really plenty of options."  
"You dad would freak if you did the doctor-thing. Another Dr. Beale in the family, shared practice..." Beca laughed as Chloe rolled her eyes. The DJ had met the whole Beale-clan after the ICCA's finals; they were really a family ideal: parents married since college, one daughter, two sons, all redhaired and freckly. They were the most adorable group of people Beca had ever met and they had treated all of Chloe's friends with respect and admiration. And that was what really made Beca warm up to them, they weren't snobs, they were just people who happened to have a lot of money and they actually did some good with it from what Chloe had told her. And, of course, Chloe was the most giving and lovely and generous person Beca knew, so, she saw where she got it from.  
"I'm not sure our relationship would survive a shared practice. Don't get me wrong, I love my dad, he's amazing and he's so good at what he's doing. But he would be so overprotective and concerned. And I'm not sure if I want to go back to Virginia to live there. That's what my mom wants, for me to come home, to get married..." Chloe rolled her eyes some more and Beca giggled.  
"Well, you're young. You have plenty of options, Chloe," Grace said and the redhead nodded.  
"Yeah, and I want to look at them all and make my own choice. Maybe I'll become a professional singer and go to L.A.," she mused, smiling.  
"If you wait a couple more years, we'll go together and be roommates," Beca said. "And I will play all your songs at the clubs I'll be working at."  
"And I will tell everybody that my best friend is the hottest DJ in town," Chloe gave back and they smiled at each other again.


	2. Chapter 2

Beca walked with her mom over campus. Choe had left them after lunch to go change for practice. Beca, of course, had rolled her eyes at her friend but she knew that Chloe just wanted to give mother and daughter a little time to catch up before they would meet again at practice - Grace had insisted on coming to the Bellas rehearsal since she wanted to meet the group.  
"Chloe seems really sweet," Grace said and Beca looked at her suspiciously before she answered.  
"She's amazing and no, she's not my girlfriend."  
"I didn't say anything about that, honey," Grace sighed.  
"No, but you were looking at us, I saw it," Beca gave back a little testily.  
"I thought you were too captivated by those amazing blue eyes to notice." The DJ sighed.  
"Mom, please, can we not talk about this?"  
"You started it," Grace gave back irritated but then shook her head. "That was a childish thing to say. And I'm sorry. You make your own choices in life and you chose Jesse as your boyfriend. And I'm happy for you, really I am," she told her daughter and lay an arm around her shoulders. Beca sighed.  
"It's not that I don't like Chloe, she's my best friend, just..."  
"I know, you're not into women and that's okay," her mother reassured her or tried to because Beca wasn't really buying it:  
"Only, you don't believe me."  
"It's not important what I believe, angel. You're your own person. I just think that it might do you good to... experiment a little, see what's out there. Not tying yourself down..."  
"Tying myself down!" Beca huffed. "Having a boyfriend hardly constitutes as tying myself down. I mean... Jesse is... you'll meet him, he's cute and fun."  
"So, you're in an open relationship, as they call it?" Grace asked and Beca looked at her wide-eyed.  
"Hardly, I mean, not that we talked about it but...I don't think Jesse would like it if I went out with another guy... or girl."  
"And that's the problem with your whole generation. You take monogamy for granted and if you don't talk about it you'll never know whether he would like to go out with someone else, male of female. Whether he would like to have a threesome, maybe, or..."  
"MOM!" Beca yelled and stopped walking. "Can we please talk about something else?"  
"Honey, you really need to losen up about this. Sexuality isn't something that is god-given. It's something you acquire through trying things out, seeing what is out there and sometimes just going for it. I'm not telling you to go and get some handcuffs and a whip - unless you're into that - but, for Pete's sake, angel... put yourself out there. You're such a beautiful young woman, a wonderful person... why not share that with other people?"  
"I do share with other people - my friends. You don't have to sleep with everyone to be popular, mom," Beca told her mother.  
"Are you trying to slut-shame me, oh, daughter of mine?" Grace smiled, she knew that her daughter thought her a little bit lose when it came to sex but she simply liked to enjoy herself and others. She wasn't tied down, as she put it, she had every right to as much fun as she wanted to have.  
"If the shoe fits," Beca grinned and her mother laughed. "Seriously, though. I'm just trying to find out if... sex is at all for me," the younger woman contemplated.  
"Why shouldn't it be?" Her mother asked. She lay her arm back over her daughter's shoulders and they resumed their walk. Beca shrugged to her mother's question.  
"I'm 19 and so far... well, apart from taking matters into my own hands...," she blushed but knew her mother wouldn't mind the topic. "I haven't been with anyone, you know that. And I mean, I like Jesse and I like kissing him and... him touching me but..."  
"It doesn't turn you on?" Her mother asked very honestly and saw her daughter blush some more and actually close her eyes in shame. Beca shrugged again. "That doesn't mean that you're not sexual. The fact that you masturbate is proof that you have cravings but maybe...," she stopped herself and her daughter looked up at her.  
"But maybe I'm just not that into Jesse? Is that what you wanted to say?" Beca asked her mother.  
"Beca, please, don't be offended. I know I've gone overboard last year when I said I thought you were a lesbian, okay? I learned my lesson. I'm sure Jesse is a nice young man and I hope he respects you and won't pressure you... I just don't want you to be with someone because society or the mainstream media tells you that's who you should be with. You're an intelligent young woman, too intelligent, in fact, to buy into all that crap," Grace told Beca.  
"Exactly, I'm too intelligent to buy into that crap because I got a mother who taught me that. Now you have to trust me that I know who I am - or will at least find out on my own. Okay?"  
"Awww, honey. It's just so hard. You're my little angel," Grace pulled her daughter into another tight hug. She had missed Beca so much, sure, they talked on the phone a lot but that just didn't cut it. And talks like these never seemed to happen on the phone.  
Beca hugged her mother back, she too had felt the void in her life since she left for college. But to a certain degree it had also been freeing. Her mother had certain opinions, opinions she would like her daughter to share, that just didn't sit well with the DJ. Not, because Beca was conservative or prudish but just because she hadn't had the same experiences, at all or yet. She wanted to form her own opinions about things and sex for her was much more complicated than it seemed to be for her mother, or ever seemed to have been for her mother.  
"Okay, no more sex talk for today. Just show me your dormroom and introduce me to your roomie. And then I want to meet the Bellas, okay?" Beca nodded. That she could do, that was easy.

"And these are the vending machines where I sometimes get lunch, sometimes dinner, never breakfast, though," Beca pointed out to her mother.  
"Because you don't eat breakfast," her mother nodded and smiled.  
"Exactly. Dormroom is this way, excuse me," Beca made her way around some students standing in the hall and the next thing she knew she saw her father standing infront of her room. "Damn," she cursed under her breath but this was also the moment he saw her.  
"Beca, there you are. Dr. Lemont told me you missed class again and...," and then he saw his ex-wife just behind his daughter. He tried a smile but his was as unconvincing as Grace's own. The women came over to where he stood.  
"Hello, Kenneth," Grace said cooly.  
"Grace, how're you?" she just nodded but didn't ask how he was. Useless to say the divorce had taken a toll on both of them and what little regard they had left then.  
"Great," Beca mumbled under her breath. "I guess we better go in, I don't want to subject anyone to my life's dysfunction." She tried the door before she unlocked it, relieved that Kimmy Jin wasn't in. They all went into Beca's room and Grace started looking around curiously.  
"It's nice... pretty small, though," Beca nodded to that notion.  
"So, about that class. Dr. Lemont said that you might fail it. He's still waiting for an essay from you," her father told her.  
"I know, so do most of my other professors, dad. I think I might have told you that I'm not that interested in a higher education when the year started," she told him.  
"I thought that had changed with that singing group of yours. You really need to focus on your studies, Beca."  
"You practically blackmailed me into joining campus life and now that I do you want me to focus on my studies? You really need to make up your mind what you want me to do here, dad. I'm a little at a loss," Beca shot back.  
"Are you actively planning on leaving here without a degree. You know, most people can actually do both, get a degree and have a social life. I can't see why you can't, you are an intelligent young woman and..."  
"I know, dad, I have heard that argument already today. Okay?"  
"I think you should take whatever you want out of this experience, angel," her mother said and smiled at her from the window. She had looked out while her ex and her daughter were fighting, trying to get to the core of what she wanted for her daughter and this was it - whatever made Beca happy she should have and take. She did hope this would include a degree but if not then that was Beca's decision. She was an adult now and it was time that she and her ex-husband treated her as one.  
Beca smiled up at her mother.  
"Like you did?" Her father's voice snapped at Grace.  
"You seem to forget that I did get a degree," the tall brunette answered him in the same tone of voice he had used on her.  
"A degree in art history? That's like going to Hogwarts and being a Hufflepuff!"  
"Dude, what? No," Beca stared at her father wide-eyed. What did just happen?  
"Don't call me dude, I'm still your father. And I think the comparison was quite accurate," he prided himself.  
"Who told you about Hogwarts, dad? And Hufflepuff?"  
"Travis has been reading the books and students always seem to refer to them, too. So, I'm currently reading them. They're actually very fascinating. The references to Lord of the Rings and other wrks of the fantasy genre. Rowling obviously knew what she was doing, I would almost say that the whole series is quite post-modern," he told his daughter.  
"If you're such an expert on all things Potter, Mr. Comparitive-Literature-Professor, you shoud know better than to slight the Hufflepuffs. Bacause most of the medical personell of the wizarding world, healers, they were Hufflepuffs. Madame Pomfrey was a Hufflepuff and she can grow back bones in your body, she's badass," Beca gave back and looked at him like she'd just schooled him.  
"How does it feel to have your daughter teach you something about your field of expertise, Ken? And without her ever having had a class in it, too," Grace gloated.  
"No one ever doubted that our daughter has brains, it's just that she chooses not to use them in class... that's at least how your professors see it," Ken Mitchell turned from his ex-wife back to his daughter.  
"Have you talked to all of them?" Beca asked in horror.  
"Really, Ken, you..."  
"How else was I supposed to..."  
"You can't just go around...." They were all talking over each other, voices raised and Beca suddenly felt a flashback to when she was younger and very angry at her parents for always fighting. She felt her stomach drop at the memory and held up her hands.  
"Stop! Stop this! Damn, you guys are divorced. You shouldn't be fighting anymore, okay?" She told them and they all went very quite for a moment.  
"You're right, I'm sorry, honey," Grace said and lay an arm over Beca's shoulders. "Fighting's over," she promised as she kissed her daughter's head.  
Ken, on the other hand, just stood there. He knew that he was the outsider in this familial group. He had missed most of Beca's teens and he was painfully aware that he would probably never be as comfortable as his ex to comfort his own daughter. Of course, they would both tell him that it had been his decision and, of course, he could never tell them that he regretted it - the move further south, not the divorce because the divorce had been necessary.   
"Well, I guess... could you please try and find something that interests you, Beca? And then dive in, please? Just try," he pleaded.  
"You know what interests me, dad," she told him.  
"Yeah, I know but there are music programs at Barden. You could do something like that... like Jesse. Doesn't he study music?"  
"Yeah, he does," Beca said and nodded.  
"You could take some classes together, maybe," Ken suggested.  
"Maybe... we'll see, dad." Beca wasn't promising anything but he felt that he had gotten through to her.  
"Okay, well... I guess, I'll be on my way then. Sheila's probably waiting with dinner," he said and blushed lightly when he realized who he had said it to. His ex just lifted an eyebrock, it was a mocking gesture. "It was good to see you, Grace," he said.  
"As always good to see you, Ken," she said and almost sounded sincere.  
"And you're supposed to be the adults here," Beca huffed.  
"I think from now on we should just imagine that we were all adults," Grace said with a slight smile and looked pointedly at her daughter.  
"I'm down with that if it keeps dad from stalking my professors," she gave back and in turn looked at her father. He rolled his eyes at the two of them.  
"Alright," he groused. "And if we're so adult, maybe you two could come to dinner one of these nights? That is, if you're staying awhile?" He looked questioningly at his ex.  
"Only a couple of days," she answered.  
"Maybe we can still do it?"  
"Is Sheila going to be there?"  
"Of course, Sheila will be there. And Travis. We would all sit down at one table and eat a nice family dinner." He knew himself that it was a bad idea, his wife would never sit down to dinner with his ex and vice versa.  
"I think that's called have your cake and eat it, Ken. Not going to happen," Grace promptly informed him and he nodded.  
"Okay, it was just an idea - a bad one, apparently." This time it was Grace who nodded and he turned to the door.  
"Well, I'll see you, Beca. And Grace... I guess, we'll be talking when you're back home."  
"Bye, Ken," Grace said and those were really the only kind words she had addressed at him through their meeting.


	3. Chapter 3

When they entered the Bellas' rehearsal space, mostly everybody was already there. Looking around, Beca actually missed only one face or rather one mop of red hair among her friends, it looked like Chloe was going to be late. Since her best friend had already met her mom, though, Beca thought it was okay to introduce her to everybody else without waiting for the redhead.  
"Hey, guys," she drew their attention to her and her company.  
"Oh, hello," Aubrey said but not to her fellow Bella. She took a few steps forward to greet the stranger Beca had brought. Aubrey was always very aware of her duties, not just those of the "Bella woman" but also those she took over as a captain of an official Barden University club - for all she knew the woman with Beca could be an alumni.  
"I want you all to meet my mom, she's here for a visit," Beca explained which excited every other Bella more than Aubrey. The blonde still put her hand out to shake Grace's.  
"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Mitchell," she said.  
"It's Ms. Thomas, or rather Grace. I'm not married anymore," she told Aubrey who nodded.  
"Hi, I'm Fat Amy," Amy came forward and took Grace's hand next.  
"Yeah, I gathered... from your accent," she added and Amy laughed. "Beca has told me so much about you all."  
"What have you been telling her?" Cynthia Rose asked and everybody looked curiously at mother and daughter.  
"Only good things, I swear," Beca gave back grinning.  
"Well, that was a short conversation then," Aubrey quipped and everybody looked at her. "That was a joke, guys."  
"Oh, we didn't know you knew any," Amy mumbled and the Bellas captain gave her a stern look. "But that was a good one, very funny," Amy added and showed her teeth.  
Grace laughed.  
I hope I'm not intruding on anything. I just wanted to meet Beca's friends and... actually if it's okay, I would love to just sit quietly in a corner and watch?" She addressed Aubrey.  
"I guess that's possible, sure." The tall blonde nodded. "And I'd say we start right now." She clapped her hands and everybody shuffled toward some seats to hear what Aubrey had planned for today.  
"Chloe's not here yet," Ashley pointed out helpfully.  
"Which means she's gonna do some cardio very shortly. One round for every minute beginning now," Aubrey said and Beca threw Ashley a look. The tall brunette made an apologetic gesture with her hands as everybody settled down. Grace sat at the piano but faced the group of women rather than the instrument.  
"Alright, as you know graduation is only a week away..."  
"Sorry, I'm late guys," Chloe came bursting through the door and hurried to her place next to Aubrey. The blonde looked at her watch.  
"Two minutes late, two rounds around the bleechers. You know the rules, Chlo."  
"Aubrey, seriously? Oh, hi, Grace," she noticed Beca's mom and waved.  
"Hey, Chloe," Grace gave back.  
"You know each other?" Aubrey asked curiously.  
"We met earlier today on the quad."  
"Of course you did," Aubrey smiled but it seemed a little irritated. She looked from the redhead to Beca and back expectantly. Chloe rolled her eyes but then slipped out of her regular shoes to don some trainers. When Chloe started running, Aubrey continued:  
"As I said, graduation is in one week and I have a couple of things I would like to change in the routine..."  
"Aubrey, again? You already changed that whole thing three times," Beca protested and the others mumbled their agreement.  
"I want it to be perfect, after all, it's my graduation."  
"It already is perfect, Aubrey," Cynthia Rose pointed out.  
"Well, if you think it is then you're welcome to do it like that when you graduate. I'm still the captain here and this is not an aca-democracy,"  
"It's a fucking aca-tyranny, is what it is," Amy mumbled under her breath but everybody heard her and some nodded their heads. The paradox was that everybody always understood Amy's mumblings despite her accent but nobody ever understood what Lily was saying - and she was talking right now.  
"What did she say?" Jessica asked.  
"I think I heard 'kill the bitch' but I could be wrong," Beca said as Chloe joined the group after her run.  
"Who's a bitch?" She asked.  
"Well, who do you think?" Aubrey looked at her pointedly.  
"You're not a bitch, Aubrey, you're just too wound up. Is this about graduation again?"  
"Of course, it is. Aubrey changed the routine. Again," Beca informed the redhead. Chloe smiled and took Aubrey's hands in hers.  
"It's going to be absolutely amazing, Bree. But she is right, we have to change the routine," everybody looked at her in shock, even Aubrey. "Because I'll be joining you guys," she grinned.  
"What?"  
"Why?"  
"How?"  
"So you gonna be a fifth year senior? That's even worse than having nodes, isn't it?" Amy asked and everybody looked at her.  
"No, I'm actually starting my master's here next year...," whatever else Chloe wanted to say was drowned out by shrieks and yelps of her friends who all jumped up and hugged the redhead. "Aw, you're so sweet, thank you," Chloe said and hugged each and everyone of her friends and Beca twice. Aubrey came last and she lay her arms around Chloe's neck while the redhead pulled her really close.  
"You're gonna keep an eye on them for me, right?" She asked.  
"Of course, I am. I'm gonna be Beca's co-captain just like I've been yours," Chloe promised. Aubrey let go of her and they looked at each other.  
"I'm so proud of you," the tall blonde said.  
"And I'm proud of you. You're gonna be the best assistant manager Leroy, Briggs & Posen ever had," Chloe was referring to the advertising company Aubrey's mother co-owned and where her best friend would start working after graduation.  
"Well, we should go back to work on that choreo now. Okay, guys, three rounds to warm up, I don't want any of you to sprain anything. You too, Amy. No horizontal running today," she gave a few good-natured smacks on some behinds and the women set out to run around the bleechers all of them remembering the first time they had done this - so many months ago.

"You sure, you're gonna be alright, mom? We could come with you, you know," Beca said but her mother waved her on.  
"You guys go ahead, I'll just take the bus with your friends and get off infront of the B&B - I've taken the bus before, Beca," Grace told her daughter who rolled her eyes.  
"Don't worry, Beca, we'll keep an eye on your mom," Cynthia Rose grinned at her friend.  
"Careful with those eyes, CR," Beca pointed two fingers at her own than at her friend to tell her that she was watching her. Cynthia Rose just laughed.  
They were standing infront of the practice hall and Beca debated whether she should just let her mom go with her friends or make sure that she got home safe personally. That would mean that her evening with Chloe would be cut short. They had planned on going over to Beca's to listen to some music. Kimmy Jin wouldn't be there, she was spending every Wednesday night with 'a friend.' Beca hadn't yet found out what that meant although she thought there was some very subtle chemistry going on between her and her friend Yun.  
"Goodnight, honey," Grace said and carressed her cheek. "'I'll be fine," she promised and Beca nodded.  
"Yeah, goodnight, honey. We'll all be fine," Amy teased her friend and they all giggled.  
"Whatever. Let's get out of here, Chlo," Beca groused and Chloe tried to stifle her laugh but wasn't very successful. She waved at her friends and then hurried to catch up with Beca who had set off at a brisk pace to escape any more teasing. As per usual, she linked her arm with her friends and they fell into a companionable pace, chatting easily.  
Grace looked after the two girls - women, she had to remind herself. They were so comfortable together, linking arms, touching quite frequently as Grace had observed in the time they had spent together. And that was not at all like her daughter.  
Beca's mother sighed and looked around at expectant faces.  
"Sorry, guys. You'll understand when you have kids," she told them.  
"Let's just hope ours won't be such a brat," Cynthia Rose joked and they all laughed, Grace included.  
"You don't know the half of it," the older woman said.  
"Do tell," Amy encouraged.  
"I... oh, I think I've forgotten something in the practice room. I should... get it," Grace seemed to remember.  
"Don't worry, Aubrey will find it and take it with her. She's always doing that," Amy told Grace.  
"Yeah, because you're always forgetting your stuff," Cynthia Rose piped up.  
"Well, it's a small pin, she might overlook it. I better go back and get it," the older woman said.  
"Should we wait? I mean, we kinda promised Beca that we'd see you home safely," the African American Bella said.  
"That's not necessary but thank you. What my daughter seems to forget is that I'm very capable to look after myself," she reassured them.  
"You sure?" Ashley asked and Grace nodded. She waved the group goodbye and walked back into the auditorium where Aubrey was just busy looking over the room to see if anyone had forgotten something.  
Grace cleared her throat to make her presence known and Aubrey looked up.  
"Oh, hello, I thought everybody's gone home already," she said and smiled tentatively.  
"Well, everybody just left. I... can I talk to you for a moment, Ms. Posen?" The question elicited a raised eyebrow but Aubrey caught herself quickly.  
"Of course, and it's Aubrey, please."  
"Aubrey," Grace smiled. She sat down on one of the chairs where the Bellas had sat before in a semi circle and Aubrey took the chair beside her.  
"You're not going to ask me about Beca's behavior or anything, right? I mean I'm not one of her teachers. We're all just students here," Aubrey asked because she was really at a loss what Beca's mother might want from her.  
"I'm aware of that. No, I... I didn't just come to visit. I mean I missed Beca but I would have seen her in a couple of weeks anyway. I... I'm actually a bit worried about her." Now both Aubrey's eyebrows shot up.  
"And you want to talk to me about that?" She asked perplexed. "Shouldn't you talk to Beca about it?"  
"I have talked to Beca about it and we had a fight over it just before she started her studies here... well... do you know the young man, Jesse, Beca's dating?"  
"Jesse? Yeah, I know Jesse. And I don't think you have to worry about him. I mean, he's a Treblemaker... that's another a cappella group, our male rivals, if you want," Grace nodded, she knew about that. "But apart from that, I think Jesse is one of the... more refined specimen of that group. I don't know him that well but he's friendly and well-mannered. A little goofy but Beca seems to like that," Aubrey concluded. Grace was once again nodding but she seemed thoughtful.  
"What about Chloe?" she then asked.  
"Chloe? What about Chloe?" Aubrey answered, it came out maybe a little too quickly. Grace's dark eyes looked searchingly into Aubrey's blue ones.  
"They seem close, Beca and her," she said.  
"They're friends," Aubrey didn't give anything away and there seemed something she was indeed hiding.  
"Aubrey, I... a couple of weeks ago Beca called me in the middle of the night. She was very drunk. I'm not one of those worrisome mothers who fool themselves into believing that their offspring study all day and behave like little angels. Getting drunk isn't what had me worried. Beca telling me that she had a boyfriend didn't either - not really. What worried me was that instead of talking about him for the next hour she told me about Chloe, about how special she was, how nice and... how beautiful. Beca doesn't remember that... but I do."  
Aubrey breathed deeply but set her jaw in a line.  
"They're friends," she repeated.  
Grace nodded.  
"I like Chloe, she's just as special as Beca says, very bright, very... open. I'm glad Beca has her and I just... I just want Beca to be happy," she said.  
"And she's happy with Jesse, at least as far as I know." Grace sighed, she didn't seem to be able to explain to Aubrey how she felt about all of this and maybe she shouldn't. Maybe she shouldn't meddle in Beca's relationships. It was just hard for her because she thought that Beca might be with the wrong person.  
"Well, then I'm glad," she said to Aubrey and tried a smile. The blonde nodded but seemed to have grown a little cooler toward the older woman. Or maybe Grace imagined that.  
"Can I give you a ride home? I mean... I don't know where you live while you're here? Not in Beca's dormroom, surely?"  
"No, there's a B&B on Lewiston..."  
"Yeah, I know it. I can drive you there if you want," Aubrey offered.  
"I don't want to inconvenience you."  
"You don't. It's on my way home," the blonde nodded encouragingly and Grace finally accepted.  
"You and Chloe are roommates, aren't you?"  
"Yes, we are," Aubrey answered carefully while she was slipping into her jacket.  
"But she and Beca left together," Grace commented.  
"They... study together when Kimmy Jin isn't there. Wednesdays," the younger woman explained.  
"But the semester is almost over - finals were last week, right?" They were looking at each other, Grace seemed to challenge Aubrey but the tall blonde didn't budge. She smiled not very convincingly and said:  
"They're friends, they hang out." And that was all she said and Grace didn't pursue the topic any further.


	4. Chapter 4

"Mhm," Beca landed heavily on her bed and buried her face in one of the pillows.  
"Hey, you alright?" Chloe asked, suprised that Beca seemed so exhausted all of a sudden. "You wanna do this another time?"  
"No," Beca turned but didn't sit up. Chloe sat down next to her and put her hand on Beca's stomach.  
"You seem tired," she said and tenderly rubbed the brunette's belly.   
Beca stared at Chloe's hand for a moment, then put her own hand over Chloe's to stop the movement. The redhead looked at her questioningly? Beca tried a smile but it didn't convince her friend. Beca sighed and got up from the bed. She went over to her laptop and started some music.  
"You okay, Beca?" Chloe asked.  
"Yeah," the DJ brushed her off and looked intently at the beats jumping up and down on her desktop. A little like her heartrate at the moment. She didn't even notice Chloe walking up behind her until she put her hands on Beca's shoulders and started kneading. Beca jumped up so quickly, she pushed her headphones from her desk. They fell to the floor.  
"You're always doing that," Beca snapped at Chloe and regretted it the next moment when she saw confusion and a glimmer of hurt in Chloe's clear blue eyes.  
"I'm doing what?" she asked.  
"Touching me," Beca murmured and pushed her hands into the sleeves of her shirt.  
"It's what I do," Chloe said sheepishly. She folded her arms across her chest, obviously to keep them from straying anywhere Beca didn't want them.  
"I'm sorry, Chloe," Beca said. She felt bad about making Chloe ashamed of something that was just a part of her, something she herself had rarely found intrusive or unpleasant. It was just that... her mother had made her aware... of things. And when Chloe had rubbed her belly just now... she had felt... something.  
Beca took two steps toward Chloe and unfolded her arms, holding her hands in her own.  
"Why does you mom's visit stress you out?" Chloe asked as she looked deeply into Beca's eyes.  
"Why do you think it's about my mom?" Beca asked and a copper eyebrow rose at the question. Beca smiled slightly. "I love my mom, she's... she's the most important person in my life and nobody knows me the way she does and... nobody knows me the way she does," Beca repeated.  
"And that's a bad thing?"  
"Sometimes," Beca said. "She.. she had a theory... about me," the DJ started haltingly. She pulled Chloe over to her bed and they both sat down.  
"What kind of theory?" Chloe encouraged Beca to go on.  
"She thinks... I like women," the brunette confessed.  
"Duh, of course you like women. A whole bunch of them back, they're called the Bellas," Chloe said and it made her friend laugh for a moment. Then she sobered:  
"She thinks I dig women... that I'm attracted to them."  
"To them all?" Chloe teased and Beca finally looked up at her because she's been saying all this in a shameful murmur to their combined hands.  
"No, dude... just..." Chloe grinned at her and Beca had to laugh. "Take this serious, please?" She said but still smiled.  
"Beca, it doesn't matter," the redhead told her.  
"It doesn't matter? I have an identity crises and you tell me it doesn't matter?"  
"You're not having an identity crises, Becs!" Chloe told her. "You know exactly who you are. You're Beca Mitchell, DJ extraordinaire, Bella, a brilliant singer, the cutest little button..." Beca had to laugh, she couldn't help it and Chloe joined her easily. They lay back on Beca's bed like they had so often done, Chloe holding the smaller woman. "Sexuality doesn't define us. It may be a part of us but not even the most important part. Look at CR - she's always been just who she is, she never made a big deal out of being a lesbian. I like girls and guys and that's okay, too. Stacie... she owns her sexuality. We all do. And if you're undecided whether you like guys or girls or both or even people who don't fall into the standard gender categories... it doesn't matter because we'll all still love you. You will always have a safe place with the Bellas," Chloe told her and Beca shut her eyes. She breathed in deeply. In this moment she felt completely safe and loved. She put her head against Chloe''s.  
"You're the best," she told her.  
"The best what?" Chloe gave back.  
"The best everything."  
They lay like this for some time, awake but reluctant to move out of their embrace.  
"Beca?" There was a loud knock at the door and the girls shot up from their reclined position as it opened and Jesse came into the room. "Guess what...," he already talked when he turned to the bed. He saw the two girls sitting there, very close, wide-eyed.  
"Sorry, did I...," the words 'interrupt anything' came to his mind but he discarded them. "... scared you, or something?"  
"No," Beca said.  
"A little," Chloe said.  
"Sorry, I... I just have great news: Professor Robbins, he signed me up for this internship... it's for the summer and it is in... Hollywood," he bursted out and grinned excitedly.  
"That's awesome, Jesse! I... wow," Beca said and got off the bed to hug her boyfriend. "That's so great, J... I don't know what to say. You deserve it."  
"Yeah, I know, right?" He laughed and pulled Beca up for a kiss. It was just that, a simple kiss between boy- and girlfriend. But Beca blushed furiously, she felt completely flustered.  
"You alright?" Jesse asked.  
"Yeah, I... I have news, too. Not as great as yours, naturally. My mom's in town. She would like to meet you, I mean... not like, you know... officially meet the boyfriend, everybody uncomfortable or something... just... if you've got some time these next few days, we could have lunch together, or something?" It wasn't at all like Beca to rattle on like this, to be flustered or uncomfortable like this. She seemed nervous and he didn't know if it was about him meeting her mom or about... something else.  
"Yeah, sure, I would like to meet her. That would be great," he said.  
"Great," Beca said. "Great." She turned to Chloe for a second and smiled at her then she turned back to Jesse and looked up at him.  
"I'm sorry that I just burst in here like that...," Jesse apologized, though why he wasn't sure. He felt like he had indeed interrupted something. But that couldn't be because... Beca was his girlfriend and Chloe was her best friend. Maybe he had interrupted a girl-talk, or something? "Erm, should I...go?" He asked.  
"Oh, no. No, no, no. I should go. You two probably want to... talk about your internship. Congratulations, by the way," Chloe got up from Beca's bed and gave him a small kiss on the cheek. "I'm happy for you," she said.  
"Thank you, Chloe," he said and grinned again. Yeah, this was his moment. He'd done good. He smiled at Beca and she smiled, too, but there was still something off with her. He couldn't put his finger on it, though. Chloe slipped into her sneakers and jacket.  
"Well, I'll see you..."  
"I just come... I'll be right back, Jesse. Get comfortable," she told him and he watched the two women leave the room.  
Beca closed the door behind her.  
"I'm sorry," she said.  
"Whatever for, Becs?" Chloe asked and looked at her. She was just her usual self, all sweet, all good. Nothing wrong. But Beca felt that there was something wrong, there was something terribly wrong here because she didn't want Chloe to leave, she had wanted Jesse to leave again. And that was wrong. "It's okay, we talk some other time, really. I mean... we were just... talking," she said but that was also wrong. They weren't just talking, they were...  
It had been like an echo in the room. Of something someone had once said. Beca couldn't understand the words but... she had felt them. And she was sure Chloe had felt them, too. Maybe they would have said them, maybe they would have heard them at some point - had they just been able to keep lying in each other's arms, listening.  
Beca shook her head.  
"Alright, I'll see you... tomorrow?"  
"Maybe, I... I need to hand in that last paper and I want to... read over it once more. I think there was a footnote, that was kinda wong," Chloe rambled.  
'A footnote that was kinda wrong?' Beca shok her head some more. How weird this felt, how utterly wrong it felt. Wrong footnote, was that it?   
"Okay, but text me if you're free, okay? I..." 'want to see you' were the words she wanted to say but they were wrong also.  
"I'll text you," Chloe agreed. She waved her hand at her friend though they were standing right beside each other and Chloe would always rather touch than wave.  
"Bye," Beca said as she watched her friend walk down the hall, not even looking back like she usually did whenever they parted. But it was just another things that was wrong.

Chloe walked into the apartment she shared with Aubrey not even noticing her friend who sat on the couch in the living room. She just locked the front door, slipped out of her shoes and jacket and was about to open the door to her room when Aubrey said:  
"Chloe?" The redhead looked up.  
"Bree, hey, I... is everything all right?" It wasn't like Aubrey to just sit somewhere and wait. She was always busy doing something and the fact that now she didn't even have a book cracked open or a magazine was strange. Chloe walked over into the open space of the living room and sank onto the couch next to her friend. She reached out her hand and lay it on Aubrey's, she squeezed.  
"What do you think of Beca's mom?" the blonde finally asked.  
"Beca's mom? I think... well, she seems great. She's really nice and open and... I think, Beca's really lucky to have her," she added. "Why do you ask?" Aubrey seemed to think about the answer, she sighed deeply.  
"Are you and Beca involved?" She then asked her own question and looked at her friend earnestly.  
"What? No, we... Bree, you know that Beca's with Jesse. We're not... I...," her voice faltered as did her conviction that nothing was going on between her and Beca. There had been something going on earlier and she had been very aware of it and by how Beca had behaved before she left so was she.  
"What's going on? Talk to me," Aubrey asked of her friend.  
"There's nothing going on, Bree. I... I was foolish once again and... I may have feelings for Beca but she's with Jesse, so... what does that have to do with Grace?"  
"Why didn't you talk to me about your feelings for Beca?" the older woman once again ignored Chloe's direct question to pose one of her own. Chloe looked up at her, into her eyes.  
"You know why," she simply said. Aubrey took a deep breath.  
"Just because... of what happened between us that doesn't mean you can't talk to me, Chloe. I screwed this up and I.. I want you to be happy. You know that," she told her friend. She didn't look at her anymore but was instead staring intently at their hand which held one another, like they so often did.  
"I know just... I can't say I'm particularly happy. I mean... Beca's with Jesse and... not with me."  
"Then she's an idiot," Aubrey told Chloe blankly. "Not as big an idiot as I am but still." She smiled at Chloe and the redhead answered in kind. She could never be depressed when one of her friends made an effort to cheer her up.  
"You're not an idiot and neither is Beca. You had your reasons, and so does Beca now. I just fall for the wrong people... well, not wrong... I just fall for the loveliest people around and it hurts a little if they don't feel the same."  
"You know that was not true in my case, I just... I couldn't come out..." Aubrey's mood faltered so quickly, Chloe didn't have any chance to keep her from falling but she did the only thing she could do to catch her: she pulled her in a tight embrace.  
"It's okay, Bree. You know I don't blame you for it," she soothed as Aubrey clung to her for a moment. Then she breathed deeply - the way she always dealt with stress, breathing in and out, letting go of whatever was bothering her, pushing it to the back of her mind - and sat back up straight. She nodded.  
"Yes, I know... but... this is not about us. It's about you and Beca."  
"There is no Beca and I," Chloe repeated.  
"Her mother thinks there is," the blonde finally came full circle.  
"Grace thinks that... Beca and I are... what? Together?" To this question Aubrey shrugged.  
"I'm not sure but she certainly caught onto somthing. I tried to divert her because she didn't seem too thrilled about the idea. I told her you were friends..."  
"I don't think Grace would have a problem with Beca and I... that's not..." Chloe thought about this. She didn't want to tell Aubrey about what Beca had said earlier that evening, that was Beca's secret and not for Chloe to share. She simply shook her head.  
"Well, she was asking questions and she said she was worried about Beca. At first I thought it was because of Jesse but then she started asking about the two of you. I thought it better to tell her you were just friends," she explained to Chloe.  
"That's what we are," the redhead confirmed.  
"Really? Just friends? I think there's something else going on between the two of you - I have thought so for some time, actually," she told her friend.  
"Why would you think that?" Chloe asked.  
"Because. You. Have a toner for Beca. And I think she's got one for you," Bree just blurted out.  
"I... we... she..."  
"And you can't deny it. So, what's going on?" Chloe shook her head at the question.  
"I don't know," she said. "I can't tell you because I really don't know." She tried to smile at Aubrey but it wasn't convincing at all. The blonde put her arms around her friend.  
"You will have to figure it out, though," she told Chloe. "Because those toners are far too obvious to overlook. Soon all the Bellas will notice - if they haven't already - and that oblivious boyfriend of Beca's will, too. And then it's gonna get ugly." Chloe sighed.  
"Maybe they will just go away again," she pouted.  
"When have you ever seen toners just go away?" The answer was, never.


	5. Chapter 5

Jesse had made himself comfortable on her bed and when Beca came back into the room he smiled up at her.  
"Hey," he said.  
"Hey," she answered and suppressed a sigh at the sight of him. She would rather not have to deal with him right now, especially since he was in such a good mood and she herself felt a depression settle over her. Was that even possible? She had been so relaxed, so happy just minutes before and now... she felt so lost.  
"Sit with me," he said and tapped on the bed beside him. She smiled at him and sank onto the bed, snuggling into his arms. This actually felt nice but it also had the advantage that he couldn't see her worried face from his vintage point.  
"I'm proud of you," she said.  
"Thanks, sweety. I'm so hyped like... he didn't even tell me in class, I just got an email from him telling me that there was this friend of his that was looking for people..."  
Beca shut Jesse's voice out, it became a muted background noise in her ears while her thoughts whipped through her mind. She remembered the conversation she had had with her mother at the end of summer. Grace had made a comment on her friendship with Deanne, the senior shift manager at the burger joint she had worked at over the summer. Whether she would want to visit Beca after she had started studying. And it had gone downhill from there. Beca had never had many female friends, that was certainly true, but there had always been one who was special. And her mother had thought that maybe it was time for Beca to admit just how special these girls were to her.  
But she hadn't. Instead she had yelled at her mother to mind her own business. She hadn't felt safe at that moment, she had felt cornered. It had been aweful. Her mother had apologized, repeatedly, just the other day she had said that she had been wrong to just tell Beca that she thought she liked women. And it had been. But...  
"Hey," Jesse shook her shoulder. "Have you fallen asleep?" He asked.  
"No, I...," Beca looked up.  
"So, what do you think?" He smiled at her expectantly.  
"About?"  
"About coming with me to L.A.? Haven't you been listening?" Jesse asked.  
"I... sorry, I have. I just... things with my mom," she kind of apologized. "You want me to come to L.A. with you?" She then asked, letting his words filter through the fog of her interrupted thoughts.  
"Yeah, sure. I mean you always wanted to go, right? And maybe you can make some contacts, or just look at what those DJs there do, y'know, do some research," he smiled ecitedly. Beca opened her mouth but at first no sound came out, then:  
"I... don't know. I mean... I don't even know if I could afford that. I wanted to look for a job this summer. Then there's..." 'Bellas practice' she wanted to say since that was usually her excuse but there was no Bellas practice during break and Jesse knew that. "... the radio station. Luke has put me on the roster."  
"Oh, come one, Luke would be the last person to keep you from following your dreams," Jesse joked. He laughed at her, all excitement, all love and trust. Damn, that boy was too good for her.  
"I still don't know if I'll have the money to go. I would have to talk to my dad about it," she told him and he nodded.  
"Yeah, do that. He'll probably say yes, I mean, as long as you come back to study." Jesse pulled Beca to her and in a hug. "It would be so cool if we could go to L.A. together, live together, see how that goes. And do what we were born to do - me at the movies and you in some hip club..."  
"Yeah," Beca said, once again burying her face into his chest. She thought of Chloe. What would Chloe say to this? They had made some plans for the summer: a trip to the beach, a couple of days in New Orleans and Atlanta. Then she had wanted to visit her mom and Chloe had said that she would drop her off and pick her up again on the way to and from Virginia where her own family lived. She would be disappointed if Beca just told her that all of this was cancelled. Of course, she would also tell her to go because she knew that this was part of Beca's dream and Chloe was all about following your dreams because she knew that it would make Beca happy.  
"Hey?" Jesse shook her shoulder again and she looked up. "You're not listening at all, are you?" He grinned.  
"I've been thinking about L.A.," she said and it wasn't a complete lie.  
"Good, keep thinking about it because I really want you to come," he smiled happily. Then he pulled her in for a kiss, a long one, a deep one. One that Beca didn't feel at all and she gently pushed him away after some moments that already seemed too long to her.  
"I'm really tired, Jesse," she told him. He looked a little disappointed for a moment but then he smiled.  
"Mind if I stay. I mean not to... y'know, just cuddling?" He gave her puppy eyes and it really didn't seem fair to send him home so late when they could share her bed. And she knew that if it had been Chloe asking, she wouldn't even have hesitated; she probably would have offered.  
"Yeah, sure. But just cuddling, no funny business," she told him.  
"Maybe a little funny business," he gave back playfully and kissed her again. It was going to be a long night.

Beca lay awake. It wasn't just that she was uncomfortable, the edge of the bed too close for comfort with Jesse's arms smothering her. She felt stupid. She was afraid. And she felt that life was zooming in on her and she had no place to hide.  
When did all of this happen? She had been the one always moving, always wanting more and seizing things. And then she had stopped, she had stood still for only a second and suddenly she had a boyfriend, she had become a Bella, she had made friends. It had felt good at first, sure, but now she wasn't the one in control anymore and life happened to her instead of her moving through it. And it didn't feel good anymore.  
'But...' her mind reminded her. But things were good. She had Jesse, she had the Bellas, she had Chloe. She was still doing music, she had made some of her best mixes because people were talking to her about the music they liked; because Chloe was talking to her about the music she liked and because she had made those mixes for her.  
Beca closed her eyes tightly and shook her head.  
'No,' her mind warned her. 'Don't even go there.' But how could she not after what happened earlier, after what almost happened, or what she wanted to happen.   
'Nothing happened,' her mind insisted. But that wasn't true, that had never been true. Things were always happening, like whispers in the dark, like shadows against the wall, like background music. She had just never looked, never listened. But now she was listening and what she could hear was her heart hammering in her chest when she was alone with Chloe, when they looked at each other. Then things were indeed happening.  
'But you love Jesse, you sang a song for Jesse,' her mind told her. And it was true. And she couldn't explain it away because she had had feelings for Jesse and it had only been two months since she had sung that song to him at the finals. Two months. Not enough time to fall out of love with someone, surely? Or fall in love with someone else?  
Love? When had that even happened to her?  
'When I was standing still,' she reminded herself. No wonder, she had always scoffed at love stories. They were what stopped one from moving. There was no progress in love, there was only stand-still, there was engagement and marriage and kids and these things hadn't changed for centuries.  
'Stupid love,' she thought.  
Beca turned her head to look at Jesse. He was fast asleep, content, happy to just lie here with her. He didn't wish to be anywhere else or with anyone else. He only wanted to be closer to her, for her to open up more, for her to be the woman who brought out the man in him. But she wasn't that woman. She had known that when he had sung to her at the riff-off, she knew it now.  
But who was she? Who did she want to be?

Grace knocked on Beca's dormroom door.  
"Beca, are you there?" The door opened and the tall brunette stuck her head into the room, seeing her daughter, still asleep, and... a young man who was looking at her like a dear caught in headlights.  
"Hello," Grace said and came into the room. "You must be Jesse." She smiled at him and Jesse nodded.  
"Yeah, I am. You're Beca's mom?" He asked.  
"Yes, it's nice to meet you, Jesse," she said and he tried to sit up and maybe climb out of bed but she made a stopping gesture. "Don't bother. I just... aw, look at her, she's so adorable when she sleeps." Grace kneeled infront of the bed and brushed a lock of hair out of her daughter's face. "Not that she isn't when she's awake but... I just don't get to see her like this anymore," she told the young man who was a little flustered at her being in Beca's room and being okay with him being here as well. He once again attempted to sit up without waking Beca but this time he roused her.  
"What? Hmmm? Chlo? What? I... Mom?" She blinked several times to focus on her mother's smiling face.  
"Sorry," she then heard from behind her and turned to see Jesse fidgeting a little uncomfortably. "I didn't mean to wake you."  
"Mom, why are you here so early?"  
"I thought we could maybe have breakfast together," Grace told her daughter. "Of course, now we can all have breakfast together if you want. Though you look pretty tired. Haven't you been sleeping?" She asked and carressed Beca's cheek.  
"I didn't keep you awake, did I?" Jesse asked apologetically.  
"No, you didn't. I... I was thinking about what we talked about," she told him and sat up on her bed. "Breakfast?" She then asked Grace who nodded.  
"If you two like," she said. Jesse smiled but didn't want to make a commitment until he knew what Beca wanted. Maybe she wanted to talk to her mother alone and he would have to excuse himself.  
"Sounds good, though I should probably shower first," Beca said.  
"Of course, you guys take as long as you need. I'll just go over to that coffee shop across the street and get myself a coffee. You join me when you're ready, no need to hurry," she added and smiled at the two young people. Jesse smiled back, Beca simply nodded. Grace left them and Jesse grinned at his girlfriend.  
"Well, that was a little awkward but she seemed cool with me being here, right?"  
"Don't worry my mom's... cool with the concept of her grown-up daughter having sleep-overs. If that had been my dad, on the other hand, L.A. would have become a distant dream," she told him. She wasn't sure if her dad coming into her room wouldn't have simplified her life tremendously. But she couldn't quite wish for it, after all, here was the chance to go and do what she had wanted to do almost a year ago. And maybe if she could just go to L.A., make some connections, meet people, she wouldn't even have to come back here. And that would really simplify her life because then she would lose all her friends, probably Jesse, most certainly Chloe, in just one move.  
'It also sounds pretty lonely,' her father's words from a couple of weeks ago came back to her as she got up off her bed and started for the shower.  
Jesse trailed after her, giving her a little room now that they were both on their way to the showers and nakedness. It wasn't like he was going to see her without clothes, and it wasn't like he was all about that or imagining her being naked. But the implication was there and he didn't want for her to feel uncomfortable. She seemed unfazed by the whole situation, though. Ever since he had burst into her room the evening before, she seemed thoughtful and just a little closed off. He wanted to think that she was thinking about the possibility of going to L.A. together but he could easily see that there were other things going through her mind, too. He thought that some of it had to do with her mother, the visit seemed a little short-notice - or no-notice at all. It hadn't occured to him yet that maybe Beca's mom had come with news - good or bad probably didn't matter so much - and that Beca might want someone to talk about it. Her felt foolish about not having thought about this before. But they would have time, maybe after breakfast, to talk about this. Maybe he would even catch on to something during breakfast, Grace seemed open enough. That settled, his mind was once again at ease and he enjoyed a short but relaxing shower.


	6. Chapter 6

After breakfast, Beca and her mother were walking over campus back to the younger woman's dorm. Jesse had left them with the excuse that he needed to call his parents and tell them the good news about going to Hollywood. He had told Grace about the internship over breakfast but neither he nor Beca had told her that Beca might go, too. The DJ had asked her boyfriend not to say anything about it, she wanted to broach the subject herself. She didn't tell him that she wasn't at all sure if she wanted to go. She had texted Chloe during breakfast but so far the redhead hadn't answered her question to meet later and Beca was starting to get annoyed.  
"Jesse is a nice young man, good-looking, too," Grace said as she linked arms with her daughter.  
"Yeah, he is," Beca said as she checked her phone for the nth time that morning.  
"Is something wrong?" Her mother asked.  
"No, nothing's wrong. Just thought my phone vibrated," Beca gave back and put the phone away. She smiled at her mother fleetingly but wasn't really present at all, her thoughts were still running circles in her head and she started to get tired of them.  
"You seem distracted, you have seemed so all morning. Is everything all right?"  
"Yeah, everything's good, mom. I just have a lot on my mind," Beca said.  
"Like what?"  
"I don't wanna talk about it," the younger woman answered curtly.  
"Is it about Chloe?" Grace kept her line of questioning and her daughter stopped walking, pulling her arm away.  
"Not everything in my life is about Chloe, mom. I have plenty of things I'm always thinking about, like the Bellas and that I'll be captain next year, and class, and you and dad and Jesse... Chloe is..." and that was the moment her phone actually did vibrate and she pulled it out of her pocket to look at the text she got from her best friend. She grimaced - Chloe was busy revising her paper.  
"You mean that one wrong footnote?" Beca groused at her phone and put it away without answering. Chloe obviously didn't want to talk to her, great. Was this about last night? Was it about Jesse barging in on them? Was it something else? Beca looked around herself, feeling angry and hurt and knowing that she didn't even have any reason to. After all, Chloe could just be revising her paper and nothing was wrong after all.  
"Honey?" her mother roused her from her thoughts, seeing how distraught Beca was from a simple text.  
"Nothing," Beca told her, seemingly reading the question in her face. "It's nothing."  
"It doesn't look like nothing to me, angel. You look like you're about to cry. Who was the text from?"  
"Chloe," Beca spat. They looked at each other. "And I still don't wanna talk about it." The DJ started walking again and her mother kept pace with her easily.  
"Did something hap..."  
"Just let it go, mom. You have caused enough trouble, already! Why couldn't you just... Damn!" Beca threw her hands in the air. "This is insane. I'm with Jesse, he's a great guy. And he loves me. Chloe is..." She shook her head. "She's my best friend, and that is all," she told her mother as well as herself.  
"I'm sorry, honey, I..."  
"No, you know what. It doesn't matter. I'll have to talk to dad," she looked at Grace with a thoughtful expression. "Actually, I've got to talk to both of you. We're gonna do that family dinner thing, you, dad, Sheila, Travis, and I: We'll all sit down and eat," Beca pulled her phone out of her pocket.  
"Honey, I'm not sure that's a good idea," her mother tried to stop her.  
"Why not? You said, we're all adults now. Let's try behave like that," Beca gave back. "It's time you and dad let go of your petty feud and start being civil. And we'll start tonight." She nodded to herself and started going through her contacts for her dad's number.  
"Beca, really. I... it's not a petty feud, it's more complicated than that and you know it. Your dad..."  
"It's been almost 10 years. You should just let it go!" Beca snapped at her mother and startled her. "I need you tonight, okay? Both of you. I have something to discuss with you. Will you be there for me?"  
"You know I'll always be right here," Grace answered but it was clear that she was taken aback by how her daughter had talked to her just now. There had only been one time when Beca had yelled at her and that had been the discussion they'd had about her sexuality. One she had obviously not been ready to have - and by the way she behaved this morning she still wasn't. Grace sighed as Beca pressed her phone to her ear.  
"Yeah, hi dad. It's me," she listened to his answer then said:  
"Listen, do you still want to get together for dinner? With mom?... No, I thought at your place... yes, with Sheila and Travis. Unless Sheila isn't up for it then we can go somewhere else. I really need to talk to both of you... yes, I already asked mom. She'll be there... okay, text me when you know... right... okay, bye, dad." were the one side of conversation that Grace heard. She looked expectantly at her daughter.  
"Dad will talk to Sheila. He'll text me where we'll meet, his place or somewhere else," Beca told her mom and she nodded.  
"Angel, listen, I... I'm sorry if I said something to upset you. You know you're the most important person in my life, right?" The DJ nodded, she felt bad about snapping at her mother but she felt worse about some other things. Things she couldn't talk to her mother about because Grace had kind of closed that venue of conversation off - with her assumptions about Beca's sexuality. This was probably the first time mother and daughter couldn't talk to each other. It was a dead weight on Beca's chest and she felt she didn't need this additional weight to everything else that was going on. She wanted to talk to someone about all of this - but there seemed no one left... unless she could trust a Bella with a secret?  
She wasn't sure. As much as she loved each and every Bella, some of them were pretty gossipy and she didn't feel like she could talk to any of them about... her feelings for Chloe. And these feelings were becoming so real, so palpable... and they hurt, somehow they simply hurt.  
"Maybe you should go back to your dorm, you still look pretty tired," Grace said and brushed a lock of hair out of her daughter's face. Beca simply nodded.  
"Yeah, I am tired," she agreed and then tried a small smile. "I'm not mad at you, y'know. I... there's so much going on right now, I guess I'm a little bit overwhelmed."  
"I know I've been pushy. It's just... I want you to be happy, angel."  
"I wish it were so easy," Beca said. She stepped up to her mom and let herself get enveloped in a hug. A short time later they parted, Beca going back to her dorm, Grace walking aimlessly over campus, wondering what it was that Beca wanted to talk about with her and her dad.

Beca entered her dormroom and was relieved to see that Kimmy Jin still wasn't back. It was her only relief, really. As she simply stood and looked at the room, her things, all cozy and homey displayed, her computer sitting on stand-bye ready for her to work on a new mix, tears welled up in her eyes. She pulled her phone back out and read the short message Chloe had sent her:  
No can do 2day - revising paper. Dull but necessary. 2morrow, promise. C.  
What bothered Beca most about the text wasn't that it could be a lie, or that she was blowing her off - it was the C. at the end. That wasn't like Chloe, Chloe had always signed her texts with xoxo - hugs and kisses. From the first, it had always been hugs and kisses.  
'No more kisses for me,' Beca thought. She let her phone fall onto her mattress and kicked her shoes from her feet while tears started streaming down her cheeks.  
"Damn you, Chloe," she said. She slipped out of her shirt but caught her leather-bracelet in the sleeve. She started tearing at it, finally breaking lose and throwing the offending garment at nothing but everything. "Damn you!" she screamed at it, finding more things to throw, bedcovers to jumble.   
Damn, those bedcovers on which she had slept with Jesse, on which she had lain with Chloe! Damn it all! Why did it hurt so much?   
Beca sank to the floor infront of her bed, everything messed up, out of joint... like she herself. And she cried - like she had cried when she had lost her favorite stuffed dog, like she had cried when her dad had left, and that night when she had last seen her mother drunk. There was really nothing else to do but cry.

Chloe looked at her phone, not really expecting an answer from Beca but still hoping for one. She wasn't even sure what she wanted her friend to answer. A funny retort about how much studying sucked, or how they would meet tomorrow, that she couldn't wait for tomorrow? Something along those lines but none of the above. She would have liked a reassurance that they were okay. She would have liked to know that Beca wasn't looking through her act to buy herself more time to recover from the night before.  
But there was no text coming forward from the brunette. Nothing.  
Chloe walked from her room to the kitchen, where she grabbed a container of rocky road ice-cream and a spoon, then to the living room with the big-ass tv. She zapped through the channels without seeing anything, just eating her ice-cream. She finally turned the tv off and pulled her phone from her hoodie. No texts, no calls, nothing.  
She flipped through her contacts, smiling at the photo that appeared when she came to 'Becs-myDJ.' Beca hated being photographed, obviously. And she had looked at Chloe like she thought it was threatening which it wasn't at all, it was funny. And endearing. And so sexy.  
Chloe went through all her other photos on her phone. A lot of them were from the Bellas, mostly of Stacie who wasn't shy infront of a camera and never turned her back or held up a hand infront of her face. There were Amy and Cynthia Rose, laughing with each other. Ashley trying ot teach Jessica some mad libs. Aubrey relaxing on the commons for once. And Beca... whenever Chloe could catch her, talking to Stacie, trying to get the choreo down, singing, lounging in the backrow of the auditorium's bleachers... they were candid shots all, Beca didn't like to be photographed.  
Chloe sighed.  
Why was this so hard? She had thought that it would get easier once she was sure that things between them wouldn't change. That Beca loved Jesse. That best friends were all they'd ever be. What had changed? Why had it all changed so quickly?   
Because Beca's mom had a theory? Screw her theory if all it did was tear everything apart!  
If she could believe that things between Beca and herself could become... better or closer, intimate... but there was no way. Beca was in love with Jesse, she had sung that love song to him. That was how it was supposed to be. And no theory of Grace's would change that - not for her and not for Beca.


	7. Chapter 7

Beca could practically hear Amy's voice in her head: 'Aca-awkward!' and this was exactly what this was. It was awkward beyond repair. Her mother was sitting so straight in her chair that Beca feared any honest comment might break her in two. Her dad was little better but he tried - too hard and smiled too much. Sheila also smiled and it looked like it had been tattood onto her face - by someone knowing nothing about tattooing. Travis looked at his food mainly, probably wishing to be somewhere else or maybe writing text messages under the table, Beca wasn't sure which.  
She didn't even know how she felt herself. Sure, this was awkward but it wasn't the worst she had felt in the last 24 hours, so maybe this was preferable to... she shook her head impatiently. Thinking wasn't good. She needed to talk and maybe this evening would help strengthen her resolve.  
"I thought we could talk about something, dad," she said trying to sound mature and level-headed.  
"That's what you said on the phone. What did you want to discuss?" He asked smiling still. She tried a smile of her own but it felt weird so she stopped.  
"Jesse has gotten an internship through one of his professors. The professor is friends with some musical Hollywood-hotshot and he has recommended Jesse as an intern which mean that Jesse is going to Hollywood for the summer - and he has asked me if I would come with him," she told everyone.  
"You haven't told me that," Grace said sharply and Beca looked at her.  
"Because I knew you wouldn't like it," the young woman gave back.  
"So, you don't give me a chance to not like it and just confront me with your decision of going?"  
"I never said that I've already decided to go. We're actually here to talk about it, aren't we?" Beca snapped and they stared at each other in anger. Grace took a deep breath.  
"I don't know how many times I have to apologize for what I said," she said quietly.  
"This is not about that," Beca answered.   
Ken, meanwhile, looked from his daughter to his ex and back. He had never seen them fight and he felt an odd satisfaction at the sight. He knew it was childhish of him but he felt that maybe he could gain some headway with Beca if he talked this through with her and not just tell her no. Though, to be sure, he'd rather she didn't go to L.A. They had had a long discussion over what Beca was going to do next and they had agreed that she would stay for the time being though not exactly on why. Beca wanted to stay for the Bellas (and Ken suspected in part because she now had Jesse, as well), he had wanted her to pursue her degree. He had the strong suspicion that if she went to L.A., even if it was mostly to be with Jesse, she would not be coming back when the next semester started.  
"How long are we talking about here?" He asked.  
"Just the summer, we would be back when classes start again," Beca answered evenly, knowing that he was testing the waters.  
"And what are you planning on doing there? You had wanted to get a job here."  
"I could still do that in L.A. It's not like they don't have McDonald's and Burger Kings," she said.  
Ken looked again from Beca to Grace.  
"You don't want her to go?" he asked his ex and felt his wife next to him stiffen just a little.  
"That's not... I just want to make sure it's what Beca really wants," she answered, not giving away why she had been fighting with her daughter.  
"Why wouldn't it be?" their daughter asked. "You know I wanted to go to L.A. when I finished high school. If it hadn't been for... college I would have been there all along."  
"I know that but the city is not the issue here, angel, and you know it."  
"What's the issue?" Ken asked and had both women look at him like he was an intruder on secrets they'd rather keep. Then Beca said, with a sidelong glance toward Grace:  
"Mom doesn't think I should be with Jesse." Grace took a sip from her water glass, obviously wrestling for control.  
"Why don't you like Jesse. He seems like a nice kid. He's a good student, obviously, if his professor thinks that he's good enough to work with his friend - and he only started studying last year, too. Right, Beca?" His daughter nodded.  
"Yeah, he's a freshman like me," she confirmed.  
"It's not that I don't like Jesse, I only met him today and he seems like a very nice young man. I don't have anything against him," she said and although everybody knew it should have been followed by a 'but,' it wasn't. Grace simply stopped talking.  
"Can I have the beans, please?" Travis interrupted the earnest conversation at the table and pointed at the dish next to Grace. She smiled politely and handed it to him. "Thank you," he said and felt everybody looking at him. He busied himself with loading more food on his plate.  
"But you still don't want Beca to go with Jesse to L.A.?" Ken now asked Grace and she looked at him with her cold gray eyes, at least for him they had turned cold.  
"No," she answered him and again she simply stopped speaking without further explanation. Ken sighed dramatically, wanting to admonish his ex but instead just giving her an unnerved look.  
"Do you know why your mother doesn't want you to go to L.A. with Jesse?" He asked his daughter. Beca looked at him, she was on the fence about wanting to tell him what Grace's problem was - just to call her mother on it - and not wanting her dad to know and maybe confirm her mother's suspicion. She played with the food on her plate.  
"I think I'm going to get more mashed potatoes," Sheila said and got up from the table. She left with the bowl of mashed potatoes that was almost empty although Travis was the only one who was still eating.  
Ken followed his wife with his eyes until she disappeared in the kitchen then he looked at his step-son who didn't seem to hear or see anything but his food.  
"Does Jesse have a drug problem I should know about?" He asked and Beca huffed.  
"Hardly, dad."  
"So, what's the problem then?" He probed further.  
"The problem is not with Jesse. I already told you, I like him. I just think... that Beca shouldn't get too serious with him. She's young, she's got lots of time to get serious with a boy," Grace said.  
"Or a girl?" Beca shot back, realizing too late that her need to get it out had overrun her precaution toward her dad.  
"A...?" He got out but was interrupted before he could even finish the question:  
"Or a girl, yes. Because it really shouldn't matter, Beca. You know I'll always support you," Grace answered, not nearly as calm as she had been before.  
"But you'll support me more if I want to be with a girl? Is that it? Or maybe you'll just support me if I want to be with the right girl? With Chloe... perhaps?" But her voice lost its anger when it broke on her friend's name and she knew it. She was far too emotional at the moment, she couldn't discuss Chloe with a level head.  
Sheila came back into the room and looked from her husband to his daughter and back. Ken sat pretty motionless, looking at his daughter.  
"Your friend Chloe, the redhead?" He asked and Beca closed her eyes for a moment. She nodded while Sheila sat back down at the table, putting the bowl of mashed potatoes down a little too loudly.  
"Sorry," she murmured as everybody looked at her.  
Grace turned toward Beca in her chair.  
"Angel, listen, I only..."  
"Please, don't call me angel just now, okay? I can't do this, mom! I... I don't even know what I feel anymore and you're not helping!" Beca told her mother who looked at her with sad eyes.  
"I just want for you to be with someone special - and I think Chloe is more special to you than you realize," Grace told her daughter.  
"Why? Why would you think that?" Beca asked.  
"Because..." Grace closed her eyes. She hadn't wanted to tell Beca this because she had wanted her to make up her own mind, to realize on her own that Jesse wasn't the one she wanted. But she couldn't lie to her now that she had asked. "When you called me after the finals you told me about her. You rambled on for over an hour about how amazing she was, how sweet and... beautiful. And you didn't mention her beauty just once... you pretty much ended every sentence about her with: and she's beautiful, so beautiful."  
The room went completely quiet. Not even Travis dared to continue his meal, afraid that his fork would make a noise on the plate and everybody would look at him again. Unfortunately, the phone in his lap - where he had texted with a friend - chose this moment to vibrate and everybody did look at him. Everybody but Beca who now couldn't care less what her step-brother had been doing during dinner. She stared at her plate, still mostly filled with food she had never been hungry for. It didn't make any sense at all. Why would she tell her mother about Chloe when she had just kissed Jesse for the first time? Why would she mention that she was beautiful (which she undoubtedly was)? Why...  
But she couldn't think about this here. She wasn't sure she could think about this at all.  
Beca rose from her chair, her napking falling from her lap to the floor.  
"Excuse me," she said and left the living room. Seconds later they all could hear the frontdoor slam.

When Aubrey had come home from the library Chloe had still been sitting on the living room couch. She had had that one stuffed animal she had brought to Barden in her arm and a container of ice cream by her side. And she had obviously been crying.  
Aubrey had sat down next to her friend and had taken her in her arms, talking to her soothingly. By now Chloe had fallen asleep, her legs in Aubrey's lap while the blonde was reading a textbook. Her phone vibrated and she looked at it. For a moment she contemplated letting the call go to voicemail - it was from Beca. After another look at Chloe she picked up  
"Yeah?"  
"Hey, Bree. I need a lift home. Would you maybe come and get me? I can't reach Jessica," the DJ asked and Aubrey could almost hear her grinding her teeth. It was awkward but between the Bellas they owned only three cars: one was Jessica's, one Aubrey's, and the third one was Chloe's. And they also had a rule between them that when you got stranded you would swallow your pride and call one of your friends to get you.  
Aubrey sighed and looked at Chloe again.  
"Yes, I'm coming. Give me the address," she told the brunette and Beca did. They hung up without further discussion, they would probably be doing that later - or not. Aubrey didn't know what would happen. Maybe Beca would piss her off during the ride home and she would just leave her on the side of the road. It might happen, Aubrey sure was angry enough at her fellow Bella. But she almost understood some of what Beca was going through and maybe they could talk about it, maybe they could fix it for Chloe's sake.  
Aubrey sat for a moment longer and then lifted Chloe's legs from hers. The redhead stirred and opened her eyes to look at her friend.  
"Sorry, Chlo. There's a Bella emergency, I have to go get one of them," she told her friend.  
"Should I come with?" Chloe asked and sat up. She looked so vulnerable at that moment, with the stuffed white rabbit in her arm, wearing sweats and her hair sleep-tousled.  
"No, I won't be long. Maybe you should..." she looked at the clock but it only read 7.47 - too early to go to bed.  
"I should... I just can't, Bree," Chloe smiled self-deprecatingly.  
"I know. I wish there was something I could do for you." The blonde hunched down infront of her friend and touched her cheek. This was an Aubrey Posen few knew, someone caring and worried.  
"You could get some more ice-cream," the redhead said with a look at the empty container that sat on the table.  
"More rocky road?" Chloe nodded. "I'll see what I can do," Aubrey said and got up.  
"Who're you getting?" Chloe remembered to ask just before the blonde left the apartment. Aubrey turned back to her.  
"Beca," she said. Chloe's whole body jerked up, her eyes round and questioning.  
"Is she alright?"  
"She sounded alright on the phone and from the address she gave me, I would say she's at her dad's, so..." Chloe nodded, calming again but not completely.  
"Do you wanna come with?" Aubrey asked but Chloe shook her head immediately.  
"No, you make sure she gets home alright. Okay?"  
"Of course," and then Aubrey left the apartment.

Just over half and hour later her dark-blue beamer stopped infront of the Mitchell's house where Beca sat on the garden wall. She hopped off and looked into the car before getting in. Her mother who had been standing at the window in her ex-husband's living room hoping that Beca would be coming back in to talk watched speechless as her daughter was taken away by someone she hadn't even been able to see from her perch.  
The car ride was awkward as it must be between Beca and Aubrey. The brunette was staring out the window, Aubrey sat stiffly behind the wheel, keeping her emotions in check - as she always did. But it wasn't Beca's dorm the blonde was driving to, it was her own apartment building and when Beca realized this she whipped her head toward Aubrey.  
"What are you doing?" She asked.  
"Driving home," she answered.  
"Your home?" the DJ asked, thinking maybe Aubrey hadn't realized what she was doing.  
"And Chloe's," the blonde confirmed. Beca leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms across her chest. It didn't matter, she could walk home from their place, it was close enough to campus.  
Aubrey stopped the car not too far from the building and waited.  
"Well, thanks for the ride," Beca groused and wanted to get out but Aubrey engaged all the locks. "What... Aubrey, what the hell are you doing?" She turned toward the blonde but she just sat and stared out the windshield. Her jaw was set in a line, her whole body so tense it might snap at any moment. Beca once again leaned back in her seat, again crossing her arms across her chest. She wasn't going to let Aubrey terrorize her, they could sit here all night for all she cared.  
It took several minutes for Aubrey to finally turn to her fellow Bella. She didn't immediately talk, she just looked at the brunette, wondering for the millionth time what Chloe saw in her. Sure, she was kinda cute but... so damn infuriating, too. Just her demeanor now, her stubbornness, her 'tude. Like she was the coolest chick, the badass - when all the Bellas knew that was just for show.  
"Did you know that Chloe and I were together?" Beca's head whipped toward her so fast, it was answer enough for the blonde. "We were an item - or would have been if I had been brave enough to make the commitment. I wasn't. I couldn't come out," she told the other woman.  
"Are you coming out to me now?" Beca asked, unsure of where Aubrey was going with this.  
"Maybe," the blonde answered. She looked thoughtful. "Not that it matters anymore," she pondered.  
"That's great, Bree. I'm so happy for you," Beca said and tried to smile but she couldn't really concentrate on her friend right now, she had enough on her own plate. She just wanted to go home and think.  
"Whatever," Aubrey said and Beca's eyebrows rose. She guessed it was one way to deal with a coming out though she had never heard that it was 'whatever.' "Are you in love with Chloe?" She then asked and this threw the DJ even more.  
"What? I..."  
"Are you in love with Chloe? Does she make you feel things, Beca? Does your heartrate pick up when she leans into you? Do you get warm and uncomfortable if she just accidentally touches you? Do you feel happy when she tells you the most random things about her life? Do you think of her last thing at night and first thing each morning? All the things you ever heard talked about, all the things they say in books and movies and those godawful daily soaps, do you feel them?" Aubrey asked and Beca looked down at her hands. Did she feel all these things? Could she tell anyone - and Aubrey of all people - if she did?  
"I was with Chloe, Beca. She's... amazing. Loving, sweet. Kissing her is like an electric current that runs through your body. Being touched and touching her lets you come alive. And fucking her..." Beca's head jerked up, flushed, her jaw set in an angry line. Could Aubrey honestly be talking about this - the most intimate, the most sacred? Could she honestly be bragging to her?  
"And we have a winner," Aubrey said and Beca realized that the tall blonde had been baiting her. She stared at her angrily but if anything Aubrey was staring back just as furiously.  
"What are you doing, Bree?" Beca pressed through her teeth.  
"I know what it's like, Beca. I know that you're scared and hurt and full of self-doubt. I've been there. I felt the confusion, I lost control - and it was the most amazing I've ever felt because Chloe caught me... at least, for awhile I was happy. But I let other things get the better of me and lost that happiness. I could never come out to my military father or my debutante mother. I'm not strong enough to face that. But you... I'm telling you, Becs. Everything else is just a distraction, it doesn't matter. If Chloe loves you, it doesn't matter."  
"But she doesn't," Beca said.  
"You're fooling yourself. My best friend is sitting in our apartment eating rocky road, holding a stuffed rabbit to her chest because she once again fell for her best friend... and it isn't me this time." Aubrey told her plainly. "And if you don't go in there right now and tell her that you feel the same, you're the biggest idiot that currently walks the earth - and that includes Bumper Allen. So, you better get your shit together, 'cause... this is your last chance! Your only chance!"  
Beca looked up at the apartment house that loomed before them, her eyes finding the right window easily. It was Chloe's bedroom window and it was dark but there was a light on in the one next to it, the living room.  
"Hey," Aubrey thumbed Beca on her arm. "You got me?" She asked and unlocked the child-proof lock. "Either go up or go home but don't sit here like this needs thinking about. You're not as thoughtful as all that or as cool as to pretend this means nothing to you."  
"You're such a push-over, Posen." Beca opened the door and got out. Then she put her head back in. "Are you comin'?"  
"Are you crazy? I have an errand to run and when I come back I hope you've either left or took things into the bedroom. I don't wanna walk in on you two, alright?" Beca blushed at the words.  
"That's not gonna happen," she said and closed the car door.  
"Good," she heard the muffled reply before Aubrey started her car and left her standing on the sidewalk.


	8. Chapter 8

Beca didn't knock. She just turned the door knob and walked into the apartment. She didn't want to overthink this, she didn't want to think at all but Aubrey had been right, this was her chance. Whether it was the last, the only or one of many, it didn't really matter because Chloe deserved the truth. Because now Beca knew what she felt, and Chloe deserved to know, too. If she could just move away from the door and walk into the living room where Chloe lay on the couch, holding that cute little white bunny that was usually sitting on her bed, oblivious that she was even there.  
"Bulletproof, nothing to lose, fire away, fire away," she heard Chloe sing to herself and it made her heart beat that much louder in her ears. Damn, had she really been this blind? How long had this been going on?  
Beca took a step and it roused Chloe.  
"Aubrey?" But when she lifted her head, she saw a smaller stature standing in the dimness of the hall. "Beca?" she asked and the DJ came over slowly.  
"Hey," she said.  
"Are you alright? I thought Aubrey would take you home."  
"Yeah, I thought so, too. But... she brought me here. She thought we should talk," Beca told Chloe who now stood from the couch and pushed her hand into her flaming red hair, at the same time trying to adjust her hoodie. Then she noticed that she was still holding the bunny and pushed it behind her back. Beca had so smile at that, it was a small smile but it already made her feel better.  
"Talk?" the redhead asked and Beca nodded. She took two more steps toward Chloe and now stood at the end of the couch.  
"Aubrey thought I should tell you..." the brunette cleared her throat. "That I'm in love with you." It was little more than a whisper, though it carried in the silence of the room and Chloe must sure have heard her.  
"What did you say?" she still asked and took a step toward her friend.  
"I'm in love with you," Beca repeated but didn't look at the redhead who came still more closer.  
"Say it again," she told the brunette who now looked up and into those shining blue eyes that had possibly been the reason all of this had started. They were her kryptonite, Beca became suddenly aware.  
"I'm in love with you," she said with more conviction as Chloe stepped right into her personal space, touching her arms as if to make sure that Beca was really there and really saying what she was saying. She was and she was. Chloe smiled.  
"One more time, please," she said and bit her lip to keep from laughing. Beca suddenly felt giddy, Chloe seemed to like what she had told her, she seemed happy about it.  
"I'm in love with you," she told her, earnestly. They looked into each other's eyes, locking onto each other, melting into each other and then Chloe cupped Beca's cheek.  
"Good," she simply stated and then their lips met for the first time.  
It wasn't like an electric current, it was more like a bolt of lightning that shot right though her. And she certainly came alive from it. The feel of Chloe's lips on her own was... indescribable. It felt so much better than anything she had ever felt, ever wanted to feel and it unbalanced her. But that was okay because Chloe was right there to ground her again, to hold her and pull her close. Their bodies met and there were more shocks, more sparks, ripples that went through both of them. It made them both light-headed and breathless. They parted for air and came back together, again and again. After awhile they sank onto the couch, holding onto each other still, not breaking their lips apart but intensifying their lock onto each other. Moaning, murmuring, giggling and kissing, always kissing.  
"Beca," Chloe moaned and it sent a shock right into the DJ's lower anatomy. She pulled the taller woman on top of her, leaning back into the couch, forgetting everything that was not Chloe. And the redhead came over her, pressing her into the cushions, all her curves meeting Beca's own, igniting passion and heat and raw want.  
"Chloe," Beca answered the other girl's moan with her own, pulling her closer into her still. Their tongues started dancing, as did their hips as they pressed into each other in their rhythm while hands disappeared under clothing, feeling hot skin.  
"You feel so good," Chloe murmured.  
"And you," Beca gave back. "I want this off," she said and pulled the zipper on her hoodie down. She pushed it off Chloe's shoulder and was delighted to only find a bra underneath. She growled in her throat and buried her face in Chloe's cleavage. The redhead started to giggle and Beca looked up at her, grinning.  
Chloe carressed her cheek, looking deeply into her eyes.  
"I love you, Beca," she then said and smiled. Beca felt all breath leave her, her heart hammering so wildly in her chest she thought it might burst - with love and with pride and with lust and devotion and all those feelings she never had for Jesse.  
"I love you, Chloe," she vowed and felt the same smile pull at her lips. "Amazing," she then said and they both giggled.  
"It is," Chloe confirmed. But then they both felt the vibration in Beca's jeans. It made Chloe jumped.  
"Tell me that's your phone," she chuckled.  
"Of couse, it's my phone. What did you think?" Beca said in mock outrage.  
"Well, I thought maybe you brought a little toy," she gave back and moved from Beca's lap so she could get at her phone. They both giggled until Beca had pulled her phone free and looked at the display: Jesse. She closed her eyes for a moment, that guy really had the lousiest of timings. Her guilty conscience berated her for these thoughts immediately. It wasn't his fault that she was losing control, fallling for her best friend and cheating on him. He didn't even know what was happening, although it was only a matter of time that she would have to tell him.  
"Yeah," she said into the phone a moment later, so as not to make this guilt trip that was eating at her too long.  
"Hey, babe, what's going on? Your dad called and asked if you were with me. He sounded worried," Jesse told her.  
"Now that's a first," Beca answered sarcastically. Chloe next to her started to get up but she caught her hand, begging her with her eyes to stay. Chloe sat down again, holding Beca's right hand in both her own.  
"What's going on, Beca? Did you fight? About going to L.A.?" he guessed.  
"Well, kind of but... It's a little more complicated and... well, you don't have to worry. Aubrey gave me a ride, so..."  
"You want me to come over? We could talk about it." The truth or one more lie? Beca wondered. She could tell him that Kimmy Jin was there and that it was really not a good time. They would talk tomorrow.  
"I'm with Chloe right now. Can this wait until tomorrow, please?" she said and for a moment it was silent on the other end of the line.  
"Is there something you wanna tell me?" he then asked tentatively.  
"We have to talk about some things, yes, but... I can't right now. I have to think about some things tonight but we'll talk about it, I promise."  
"Alright. But you're okay, right? I mean... you should probably call your dad or your mom. I think she was with him when he called," Jesse told her.  
"I'll call them and, yeah, I'm good.... considering," she added. "I need to go now, so.."  
"Okay, call me tomorrow and we'll meet."  
"Will do. Bye, Jesse," she said and hung up.

Chloe was still holding her hand, looking at Beca expectantly.  
"I'm doing this all the wrong way," Beca said and looked up at Chloe.  
"There is no right way to do this, Becs," the redhead told her. They looked at each other and then Beca's eyes fell lower to the exposed skin of Chloe's body.   
"You're getting cold," she said and was starting to look for Chloe's hoodie when the taller woman put her hand on her breast. Beca gasp as her eyes flitted back to Chloe.  
"Not if you touch me," the redhead argued. They both felt the heat of that simple gesture roll through them, it told them what they had to do, wanted to do.  
Chloe got off the couch and pulled Beca up as well.  
"Come with me," she said and led the younger woman into her bedroom. She turned on the light and closed the door.  
Chloe pulled Beca into her embrace, losely but lovingly. She stroked Beca's cheek and pushed her hair back out of her face.  
"I want to be with you, Beca. I want to touch you, all of you. Is that okay or do you need more time?" Beca shook her head.  
"I don't need more time, I just need you," she said. Chloe smiled at her then she started opening the buttons on Beca's shirt, one at a time.  
"I like the color of this, it matches your eyes," she said. "Especially when they're dark like now." She pushed the shirt from Beca's shoulders and now they were both standing in their bras, sharing their first intimate contact, feeling the excitement when skin touched skin.  
"I thought it was gonna be... awkward. The first time. I don't feel awkward, I feel... warm, and safe, and..." Beca took a shuddering breath. "... aroused."  
"That's how you know it's right," Chloe told her. "It should always feel this way. And I'm glad I can give you this," she kissed Beca. "... and so much more."  
They kissed deeply, their bodies coming together, hands carressing naked skin. The exchange grew heated, their breaths labored. Chloe pulled Beca to her bed and onto it, losing no time to help the brunette out of her pants. She pulled off her own sweats and slid on top of Beca. The sensation was immediate and overwhelming, they both moaned at the contact.  
"Chloe," Beca pleaded but didn't even know for what. All she wanted was her touch, her kiss, her breath. But how could she even ask for all of this when it meant life would stop. And it must have because there was no amount of time or space that could contain such beauty, such love and desire. Beca's vision filled with warmth, her hands tasted skin, her mouth kissed on Chloe's beauty. It was all there, in the way the redhead sucked at her finger, eyes that raked the skin spreading goosebumps, a kiss to her inner thigh. And she came and came again with Chloe lovingly embracing her, pushing into her, sucking and tasting and kissing every inch of her body.  
Time stood still as they made love to each other. And then it was morning.

It was a closing door that woke her but her conscience was setting in too late to even realize as much. What she did realize was that she was naked - which she usually wasn't - and that someone was holding her. That someone was female, her body told her. That someone was Chloe, her mind remembered, together with all kinds of wonderful and earth-shattering sensations from the night before.   
Beca's hand stroked the naked skin of Chloe's arm.  
"You're awake," Chloe whispered into her ear and the brunette had to smile. She leaned backward, turning her head so that she could see the other woman. It was a beautiful sight.  
"Just barely," she said and smiled at the redhead. "Maybe a good-morning-kiss will help waking me up," she wondered aloud and Chloe giggled. It didn't take more to get her to touch her lips to Beca's and it didn't take long at all until the redhead was lying on top of the DJ, their bodies waking to a deliciously slow rhythm of reacquaintance.  
"You don't really wanna go there this early, do you?" Beca murmured between kisses.  
"It's not that early. Aubrey just left for her morning run, so it's probably around nine," the redhead answered. She ceased the movements of her hips, though, and rolled onto her side off of Beca who pouted lightly. Chloe pulled at her lower lip and they started giggling.  
"Did you hear Aubrey come home last night?" Beca asked.  
"No, I was a little distracted," she grinned.  
"So was I," the brunette agreed. "You don't think she could hear us, do you?" Beca blushed lightly at the thought and some more when she read Chloe's self-confident grin a moment later. "Really?" Beca buried her face in her hand.  
"The walls are pretty thin," she confirmed and chuckled at Beca's embarrassment. "Hey, you have nothing to be embarrassed about. Believe me," Chloe waggled her eyebrows at the brunette who took her hand from her face and looked at the taller woman.  
"Really?"  
"You, my lovely, are quite talented. And I'm not talking about your music-mixing-skills or your voice - though you really make sexy little noises with it," Chloe complimented her lover.  
"You make sexy noises as well, especially that strangled little moan that escapes whenever I do this," and Beca flicked her tongue over the pulse point on Chloe's neck and heard exactly the noise she had been aiming for. "Last night was amazing, Chlo," she then whispered into the redhead's ear.  
"Yes, it was but... will it be a... one time-only?" Chloe asked. She didn't dare look at Beca as she waited for an answer and the brunette wondered whether she should be insulted by the lack of trust in her friend. Considering what Chloe had gone through with Aubrey and how little they had talked the night before this was probably understandable.  
"Not that it was only one time last night but, no. I meant what I said, Chloe. I'm in love with you, and I do love you. I won't go back from here," she told the other woman. Chloe smiled at her happily.  
"I'm glad to hear it," she said and kissed the brunette on her temple. They leaned their faces against each other, cherishing any kind of touch they could establish.  
"Can I ask you about something?" Beca asked earnestly and Chloe looked at her from a very close proximity, she nodded and smiled, her nose rubbing against Beca's cheek. The brunette chuckled lightly but sobered again before she said: "You and Aubrey, you were together?" Chloe pulled herself up on her elbow, looking down at the smaller woman.  
"How do you know that?" she asked.  
"Aubrey told me," Beca said and they looked at each other for a long moment. Then Chloe nodded.  
"Yes, our second year. We... saw a lot of each other that first summer. Aubrey had some problems at home and spent some time with me and my family, we got close. Not romantically or sexually at that point, just close friends. Then we came back to Barden and moved in together and things progressed from there. One night we kissed and then... I was her first woman - only woman so far, I think. I fell in love and I think so did she - although she would never say it. And then someone made a remark at some party and Aubrey totally flipped... not infront of everyone but when we were at home. She became paranoid that someone could find out and this kinda started people noticing that something was off. Alice suspected something and Aubrey couldn't handle it. She broke it off, we almost lost our friendship, too. That was pretty hard for both of us," she told Beca.  
"It must have been hard for you." Chloe nodded.  
"It was. Aubrey broke my heart. We had been happy together before that stupid Treble made a remark about wanting to see some lesbian Bellas action," Chloe made a face.  
"It was a Treble?" Chloe nodded again. "No wonder, Aubrey hates them so much," Beca commented and Chloe had to smile.  
"She's got far better reasons than just that one," the redhead told Beca.  
"If you say so. But... you don't... I mean you don't have feelings for her anymore, do you?"  
"Of course, I do, Beca. She's my best friend. I love Aubrey. But I'm not in love with her," she added quickly when she saw Beca's face grow pensive. "I'm in love with you. I just hope..." Beca looked at her questioningly. "I just hope you won't hurt me like she did."  
"I won't, Chlo, I... I will talk to Jesse. I will tell him about us and I will end it with him," she promised. "And I will tell my mom... that she was right all along..." Beca rolled her eyes.  
"I don't think she will hold it over you," Chloe told her.  
"No, that's not it. But we were fighting over it all and... she told me why she was so persistent about this," the brunette said as her hand played with Chloe's. "Remember when she told us about that phone call I made after finals?"  
Chloe nodded.  
"Apparently, after I told her about Jesse, I told her about you.. rather elaborately."  
"Oh?" Chloe made. Beca rolled her eyes again but smiled.  
"Yeah, I told her how talented you were and how amazing and how... beautiful..."  
"You told your mom I was beautiful?" Chloe smiled delightedly.  
"Repeatedly for about an hour." The redhead chuckled at the answer then she remembered something:  
"Wait, after the finals? Where you..."  
"Kissed Jesse for the first time? Yes... I kissed Jesse, called my mom and told her all about you."  
"Huh? You were holding out on me," Chloe huffed.  
"I was holding out on myself," Beca clarefied. She pulled Chloe's face to her and kissed her. "I was so stupid... I can't even understand it. I was always so connected to myself. I don't know what happened. It all just got away from me for awhile."  
"And now?"  
"Now I see you and... feelings everywhere," she said and she flailed with her arms. Chloe chuckled at her antics.  
"I know that feeling." Chloe lay her head back next to Beca's, nudging her cheek with her nose before she kissed her there.  
"Promise me something?" she asked after awhile.  
"What's that?"  
"We'll tell the Bellas. Not just after awhile, or something but as soon as possible. Tomorrow at rehearsals. I don't wanna hide this from our friends. I want them to know that I love you and that you love me." She said and Beca's face turned thoughtful.  
"They'll think I'm an idiot," she stated. "And a slut."  
"Seriously? You think Stacie will think you're a slut? Or is it Cynthia Rose you're referring to? Fat Amy, maybe? Think about this, Beca. These are the girls who were so proud of you when you came home after you've been to prison. They worship you and they love you with all their hearts, my little idiot," Chloe grinned and then leaned in for a kiss.  
"Calling someone an idiot isn't very nice. I hope you're not planning on making this some kind of cute-ass nickname. Because I won't listen to anything you're saying when you call me that. Just so you know," Beca warned her lover. Chloe grinned.  
"I don't think you're an idiot anyways... not even a tiny one," she teased and tickled Beca. The brunette tried to stay cool but started squirming under Chloe's attack.  
"Stop this, you!"  
"I what?"  
"You... ginger!"  
"Hah!" They laughed together and Choe pulled Beca into a tight embrace.  
"You're my love," she said after awhile and kissed the smaller girl on the jaw.  
"I'm your love," Beca confirmed. She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, safe in her lover's arms.


	9. Chapter 9

It was afternoon. The sun shone brightly on Beca as she walked over campus, a smile on her face. They had slept most of the day away, not answering any messages or calls, not registering that there was a world outside the four walls of Chloe's bedroom. Beca had only left so that she could shower and change before heading over to Jesse's - to tell him. Parting from Chloe had been ridiculously hard probably because they both knew that things would get difficult and ugly before they would see each other again at practice - to tell the Bellas. Beca tried not to think about how much her life would change today, how often she would have to come out.  
Coming out. It was a strange concept, absurd in a way but obviously necessary in a world that pushed people who were different to the sidelines. You had to declare your inclination, you had to say who you loved if it wasn't someone of the designated sex. Absurd, Beca thought again, if it hadn't been for the fact that it was Chloe who she loved. Who wouldn't want to declare a love like that?  
Chloe. Beca laughed into the afternoon sunshine as she pulled the door to Baker Hall open, almost running headlong into some fellow students, apologizing but laughing some more because it was a beautiful day.  
When she opened the door to her room, however, her smile died on her lips. Her mother sat on her bed, looking at her. She wasn't very happy with her daughter, that much was clear, and Kimmy Jin looked over at her roommate equally unamused.  
"Hey, mom," Beca greeted and pulled a face. "Listen, I'm sorry... I wanted to call you but time kinda got away from me... I..."  
"Time got away from you?! Honey, we were sick with worry until Jesse told us that he got hold of you last night and that you were with Aubrey and Chloe." Her mother said and got up from the bed. "You haven't answered your phone all day! I know how difficult things are right now but... you could have at least called or texted or whatever to let us know that you were okay! Damn... I..." Grace turned away from Beca and stared out the window, ignoring the very displeased look of Beca's roommate who was rather annoyed at the family drama that was happening around her.  
"Mom, I'm really sorry. Can we... could you maybe wait for me on the quad. I would like to shower and change... and I have to talk to Jesse later but first... I wanna tell you something," she said and touched her mother's arm. Grace looked at her, sighed. She took her daughter's face in both her hands, shaking her head at her.  
"Alright... though... well, Justin called earlier and he told me that he would come get me tomorrow morning." She sighed again. "So little time," she said.  
"I'm sorry that it has been... such a draining visit. I... I'm gonna come visit soon, you know that," Beca promised her mother. Grace nodded.  
"I know. Make it quick, I'll be waiting downstairs," she then said and left her daughter's dormroom.

Not even half an hour later, Beca exited Baker Hall freshly showered and changed, her hair pulled up because it was still mostly wet. She was typing a text to Chloe, that she was going to talk to her mother before going over to Jesse's and that she missed her. A small smile crept back on her face when she wrote it although she felt incredibly sappy for doing it. But she also felt it and feelings... well, they probably shouldn't be kept in, bottled up. She had done that for too long already, without even realizing it.  
Grace was sitting on a bench watching some students practicing quidditch on the lawn. She looked a little bewildered at the young people when Beca joined her.  
"This is..."  
"Don't overthink it, mom. It's fans doing their thing," Beca told Grace and smiled a little. Her mother answered her with a sad one of her own.   
"I'm sorry that...," she started saying but was interrupted by the buzzing of Beca's phone in her jeans.  
"Sorry, this is...," she smiled as she read that it was a text from Chloe, "...Important," she finished.   
Say hi to ur mom from me and that I will take good care of u, always. ;) I miss u 2. Can't wait for practice and telling the others. They'll be so happy for us! I <3 u. xxxxx  
A small laugh worked it's way over Beca's lips and she bit her lower one to keep some of the emotions in. Exchanging love vows via text was indeed sappy and incredibly happy-making.  
"Beca?" Her mom pulled her back into the moment.  
"Sorry, just Chloe saying hi," she told Grace who lifted an eyebrown. "What?"  
"That smile was from a simple 'hi'? That girl has magic powers I wasn't aware of yet," Grace smiled.  
"She does," Beca laughed which earned her another raised eyebrow and a questioning gaze from her mother. "Your were right, I'm in love with her. And she with me and... we were together last night and... it was..." Beca blushed. "Amazing."  
Grace opened her arms without saying a word and Beca fell into them, clinging to her mother tightly for several minutes. It was so good to feel this kind of acceptance, the affection, the love. Not that she had doubted that her mother would ever give these willingly but she still felt them because she hadn't completely found them in herself yet. There were still a lot of questions, doubt, and insecurity. These things didn't right themselves overnight, no matter the amount of care that was put into healing. But a beginning had been made and Beca found that her mother's acceptance was another big step on her way to finding herself. And she was grateful.  
"Thank you, mom," she whispered before sitting back again.  
"I love you so much, angel," Grace carressed her cheek and kissed her forehead.  
"I love you, too," Beca answered and smiled.  
"Do you want to tell me what happened?"  
"Well, there's not much to tell," Beca answered a little evasively.  
"Oh, now that doesn't sound so amazing, then," she teased and Beca blushed some more.   
"Mom!" she warned and Grace laughed.  
"Sorry, sweety, just... I'm happy for you because... well, being with someone for the first time can be... it's something that'll stay with you, probably forever and I'm glad it was... good!" Beca tried to suppress the happy grin that erupted all over her face but to no avail: she burst out laughing with her mom, despite the blush that so resiliently stayed on her face.  
"It was," she said when she calmed down. "Chloe is... patient and loving, caring beyond any words... and, holy God, she's magnificent," Beca said reverently, her eyes shifting out of focus for a moment then coming back to her mom's who simply smiled. Beca shook her head, trying to push those distracting thoughts of Chloe's magnificence to the back, though she knew they wouldn't stay there long.  
"About last night, though. I'm sorry, I just left. I... what you said about the phone call, about me talking about Chloe... it just hit me then, you know. Everything. That I felt happy when I was with her, no matter what we were doing. That she made me smile the most all day. That I fell asleep to things we had talked about, and woke to things I wanted to talk to her about. And that I had... ignored those feelings, pushed them aside. Even before the finals, even before I sang to Jesse and kissed him... I was so blind before, so determined to stay that way." Beca shook her head over herself. Grace squeezed her shoulder.  
"These things aren't easy to admit to, honey," Grace comforted her daughter. "You did the best you could, I'm sure of that."  
"Not quite. I mean, I could have just listened to you when you told me..."  
"No, angel, no. I was completely out of line. I wish I hadn't said anything, maybe you wouldn't have built... a resisting wall. Maybe you would have let Chloe closer if there hadn't been a voice at the back of your mind telling you that... your feelings for her might be more than platonic. Really, I..."  
"Mom, it's okay. Stop apologizing. I think I needed the time, though I could've done without the drama. I... I'm so sorry about Jesse. He's... such a great guy and I'm gonna break his heart..." Grace once again opened her arms for her daughter and Beca sank into them.  
"I'm sorry for him, too. He's a really nice boy."  
"Yeah, but I have to tell him." Grace nodded and let go of Beca again. The younger woman pulled her feet onto the bench and crossed her arms over her knees. "I can think of a million scenarios, a million choices I could have made where the outcome wouldn't have been that I break someone's heart. I mean I hurt Chloe at the finals, and now I'm doing the same with Jesse. It shouldn't have been that way... if it hadn't been for you and Aubrey, I would probably still be in denial," Beca contemplated.  
"Why Aubrey?" her mother asked and Beca turned to her.  
"She read me the riot act after she picked me up at dad's. She... had been in a similar situation like me and... she screwed up. So, she told me to go for it, to tell Chloe how I felt. Ironic that it had to be her... my favorite frenemy. She's really amazing," Beca told her mom.  
"Yes, and very protective of her friends. I have talked to her, too," Grace said and her daughter looked questioningly at her. The tall woman sighed. "Please, don't be mad. I wanted to know where you and Chloe stood, and whether someone might have noticed something between you two... someone beside me."  
"What did she say?"  
"That you were friends, nothing more. I think she thought that I wouldn't like it if my daughter turned out gay... that I was worried that Chloe might... influence you... I couldn't make her understand that I just wanted you to be happy. I guess it shows how wound up the discussion about coming out is, how some parents justify their inability to love their children when they love someone of the same sex... I... Aubrey is really protective of you guys, probably of all her friends. I like her," she added and smiled at Beca. The small brunette laughed.  
"She's aca-amazing," she told her mom and Grace nodded. They sat quietly for awhile watching as the quidditch players packed their things and left the lawn. "Did you talk to dad about... me?" Beca then asked and looked over at her mom. Grace nodded.  
"A little... not about you and Chloe, though he wanted to know more after my... outing you," she groused, unhappy with how she had behaved the evening before. Beca had some regrets of her own on that regard:  
"Well, I was the one who mentioned Chlo. I put it all in motion."  
"Hardly," Grace disagreed. She might have elaborated why she was to blame, only to have Beca argue that point again but Beca prevented this line of conversation:  
"What did you talk about?"  
"I told him a little about the girl he had left, about me losing control of... everything. The night... the night I came home drunk at 3 a.m. to find my daughter crying on the front steps of our house because her babysitter had just left her and...," Grace swallowed at tears that threatened to fall. "... her thinking that her mom had died because she wouldn't come home."  
"Mom, that was... over 8 years ago. You took your last drink that night, you... cleaned up your act, as they say. Why did you have to tell dad?" Grace looked at Beca with loving eyes, reaching out and cupping her cheek.  
"Because he had to know. He can't hope to understand you... to be close to you again without knowing what you've gone through. What I put you through. I should have told him back then, he was pretty angry after I told him last night," her mother told her.  
"He would have taken me away from you," Beca said and Grace nodded.  
"Yes, he would have and I would have lost my angel. I only started calling you that after that night, remember?" Beca nodded. "Because you saved my life that night, you saved both our lives. An eleven year-old child... who has grown into an amazing woman. Aca-amazing?" Her daughter laughed but nodded at the expression. "Aca-amazing. And beautiful. And brave and strong. Talented. I'm so proud of you today... I mean I'm always proud of you but... today is a special day." Grace leaned forward once again and enveloped Beca in another hug.  
"Yeah, and it's far from over," the small brunette sighed. Her mother let go of her again, looking at Beca questioningly. "I will have to talk to Jesse and then... we will tell the Bellas at rehearsal, Chloe and I, that is... that we're together," Beca swallowed, she seemed more nervous about that second conversation than the first.  
"Don't you want them to know?" her mother asked.  
"Sure, I do but... I mean, Chloe thinks that they gonna be all excited and happy and all that... I don't know if they will. I mean being gay obviously isn't the issue here - CR is and the girls know that Chloe likes girls, too. It's... I'm not sure they'll like us together. We'll be their captains next year. With Aubrey there was always this... combination of... bad cop, good cop. Aubrey would challenge us, Chloe would hug us. They worked so well together. I'm not even sure whether I can be a good captain, I'm not a natural leader..."  
"Whoa, honey. I didn't know you to be such a worrier about stuff like that. You're gonna be fine. From what I've seen, those girls love you and they already accept you as their leader, their spokesperson. You stood up to Aubrey about changing the routine, remember?"  
"Yeah, but that...," Beca wanted to argue but Grace interrupted her:  
"No, no. You didn't see them looking at you. They admire you, they look up to you. And Chloe... they love her and she loves them back, it's so obvious for someone who looks at it from the outside. They'll be thrilled about you and Chloe, I'm sure." Beca tried a small smile. She wanted to believe this but it was difficult. Even though, she knew that all these things about the Bellas were true, she thought they would be thrown by the news. About her being... gay?... and about her and Chloe being together... she herself barely understood what was happening, how could they?  
"Well, I... I hope you're right." She looked at her phone to see how late it was. Almost five. She would have to leave for Jesse's if she wanted to make it to rehearsals on time. "I have to go now. Jesse's probably already wating. I texted him when I left Chloe's and told him I would come right over."  
"It's gonna be okay," her mother tried to encourage her but she shook her head.  
"It's going to be bad," she said. "But I have to do it. When is Justin gonna be here tomorrow?"  
"He said something about 9 - 9.30 a.m. Knowing him, he'll be here at 8.59 sharp," she smiled over the punctuality of her ex and friend.  
"Then I'll come over to the B&B at 8. We can have a coffee together. Maybe Chloe wants to come, too," she mused.  
"That would be wonderful. I would really like to see her once more before I leave. And maybe she can stay with us for awhile when you come stay with me?"  
"Maybe... we'll see. She wanted you to know that she's going to take care of me," Beca rolled her eyes over the sentimentality but couldn't help the smile it warranted. "She wrote that in her text," she explained and Grace laughed.  
"She's such a sweetheart." Beca stood up from the bench and Grace mirrored the move. She pulled her daughter to her for a last hug. "You're doing the right thing," she told Beca.  
"I kinda know that... it's still scary, though. But it makes me happy, too," she said a little sheepishly.  
"And that's the most important thing to me," Grace said and kissed her on the top of her head. Then she let go of her and they parted, Beca smiling despite herself, Grace from the depths of her heart.


	10. Chapter 10

Beca knocked on the door to the room Jesse shared with his fellow Treble Benji. It only took a moment for it to open to a smiling Jesse.  
"Hey, I was about to call missing persons - I thought you just wanted to take a shower and come over," he said as she entered.  
"My mom came over and we... had to talk about something. I didn't even realize it was getting so late, sorry," she apologized and walked by him evading his arm that wanted to snake around her waiste as he closed the door.  
"I see. Do you wanna talk about it?"  
"About..."  
"Your mom? You've been a little distracted since she came here, so, I figured there was something going on with her. You wanna talk about it?" Jesse sat down on his bed and watched Beca as she just stood in the middle of this strange mix of a room - with Benji's Star Wars memorablilia, his magical knick knacks, and Jesse's orderliness, his thoughtful yet cool conservatism.  
Beca thought that this was probably the last time she would be here. She didn't feel much regret about it, she had liked being at her place much better than being here with him. Chloe's place was different, too, cozy and warm with dashes of color around the room...  
"It wasn't really about my mom," Beca heard herself say before she could lose herself in thoughts of her lover. She needed to focus on the here and now, on Jesse and his feelings. The brunette finally sat down on the bed but at the end of it, as far away from her 'boyfriend' as she could be. "We were fighting about something... that is, it had already started before I came here... not that we were angry with each other the whole time... I... I'm explaining it wrong, sorry."  
"That's okay," he leaned forward and rubbed her arm for comfort. It was just a small gesture but Beca felt herself stiffen immediately. She pulled her arm to her body and felt deeply ashamed at her reaction the next moment. But she didn't feel comfortable with him touching her, it just wasn't right. He noticed her discomfiture and scooted closer.  
"You okay? You seem really tense," he said. This time both his hands reached for her shoulders but she stood up and turned her back to him.  
"I have to tell you something and... you won't like it. And I'm sorry but... I need to..." she turned back to him, looking into kind eyes.  
"It's about L.A., isn't it? Your mom doesn't want you to go," he guessed. "I mean if you don't wanna upset her... I would have liked to have you with me but if your parents say no, maybe you shouldn't come. It's okay, I understand." He smiled at her, his dark eyes trusting and understanding. But she shook her head.  
"No, Jesse, that's not... I won't be going to L.A. with you, that's true but... my mom's not the reason, neither is my dad," she said. "I'm... I've fallen in love." She made a pause and his grin got brighter and she wished he would have understood already. Then maybe this conversation would be over and she could go see Chloe... or she could go home and just bury herself in her bed in a fetal position and cry. "I've fallen in love with Chloe." She finally got out and his smile vanished. A frown appeared in its stead.  
"What...I... what?"  
"I've fallen in love with Chloe and she with me. We were together last night. I'm so sorry, I...," she stopped talking. The frown between Jesse's eyes got deeper, he shook his head slightly and looked around the room but not really seeing it at all.  
"What does that have to do with your mom? I don't understand... why Chloe? I mean... we're... we're together. Chloe is... she's your friend, your best friend..." he tried to put it all together. Beca sat back down on the bed, she reached out for Jesse's hands but then resisted the impulse to touch him. "What happened?" he asked and his eyes came back to her. Cute puppy eyes that were confused and hurt.  
"I... I'm not sure myself. Chloe and I, we clicked from the start. It was almost scary how comfortable I felt with her. I don't connect with people like that, you know that... I mean we had a rough start, right?" He nodded. "Because I'm difficult and I don't open up. But the thing is... I opened up to her. She just barged into my personal space and I didn't mind so much. She is so lovely and sweet, she smells good and has a lovely voice. I couln't resist her..."  
"But you're not... I mean, you're not a lesbian. You're my girlfriend. We are together, Beca. You sang that love song to ME not her," he said. He obviiosly tried to talk this through reasonably.  
"I know. I know but... I...," he reached out his hands and took hers.  
"We're in love, Beca. I don't know what happened between you and Chloe but... you still love me, right? We're the aca-girl and the aca-boy, we're together. I love you so much," he said. He pulled her to him a little and wanted to kiss her but she pulled her hands out of his, not moving from the bed but looking him into the eyes.  
"I'm so sorry, Jesse, but... this isn't working. We're not working."  
"We are!"  
"No, we're not. I... can't be with you. I don't feel like you do," she told him.  
"What don't you feel? You love me, that's all that matters."  
"I like you a lot, Jesse, really, I do. And I thought I loved you but... I don't crave... your touch, nor do I want to touch you. You know we haven't connected sexually - I just can't... do that with you. And I'm sorry," she repeated.  
She saw his face fall, his hands crossing over his chest. He closed his eyes for a long moment, when he opened them tears swam in their brown depths.  
"But you... were with Chloe... does that mean... you were WITH her?" He asked, his voice weak and breathy. Beca nodded and saw the first tears fall from his eyes. He quicky pulled his hands over his face, rubbing at his eyes, then drying them with the sleeves of his shirt. "You cheated on me," he said.  
"Yes," she confirmed.  
"Why, I mean why would you do that? Have I... have I hurt you? Have I done something wrong?"  
"No, you didn't do anything wrong. I was the one... I just couldn't figure it out sooner. My mom... she tried to talk to me about it before I came to Barden. She thought I might like girls but I didn't wanna hear it... and when I met you I thought... I liked you, I really like you, I just... can't love you because I... I'm a lesbian," she finally said and although it had taken her so long, there wasn't any doubt in her voice at that moment. She didn't back down from his look into her eyes which searched for a lie, a misconception. She knew that this was indeed who she was. She liked women and she was in love with Chloe.  
"I don't understand? How can you do this to me? I... I love you," he said.  
"I didn't mean to hurt you, Jesse. I... If I'd known, if I'd... I never would have hurt you. And I'm sorry, really sorry but... I can't be with you."  
"What did she do? What did Chloe do to you?" He once again reached out for her hands but she pulled them to her chest.  
"Nothing, she did nothing I didn't want her to do," she told him and locked on to his eyes.  
Jesse set his jaw in a firm line. He nodded slowly and then pushed himself back to sit against the wall. Her crossed his arms over his chest, looking at her.  
"Could you leave now, please?" She hesitated. Should she really leave him? Was there something else she wanted to say to him? But all seemed to have been said. Beca nodded and got up off the bed. She looked at Jesse for a moment, but he didn't look up at her and then she left without another word.

It was late, rehearsals had started over half an hour ago and Beca was a no-show. Chloe tried to hide her nervouseness, her disappointment. She couldn't believe that Beca was just going to bail on her, that she would forget... so quickly. Her eyes darted to the door more and more often, and from there to her phone that only showed her the time but no new texts or calls. The Bellas caught onto her mood, wondering what had her so restless and also where their future captain was.  
Aubrey was about to call it a day since nobody seemed to be able to remember any kinds of choreo, lyrics or beat. But then the door opened and Beca walked in. She looked drawn and had obviously been crying.  
"Beca," Chloe said and the brunette tried a smile.  
"I'm so sorry," she said but let it hang in the air without further explanation as she came over. Chloe's first instinct was to touch her, to hug her but she balled her hands into fists to keep from reaching out. She didn't know if it was welcome, if Beca still wanted to go through with what they had planned for this evening.  
"Is everything alright, Becs?" Cynthia Rose asked what was on everybody's mind.  
Beca shrugged her shoulders.  
"I broke up with Jesse," she finally said and there was a collective gasp coming from the Bellas. Aubrey looked at Chloe who smiled weekly, still not sure if this was a good sign. Amy, meanwhile, stepped forward and offered a hug to her smaller friend. Beca wasn't one for hugs, all the grls knew that. The only one who seemed to get away with it was Chloe but this time the DJ stepped into Amy's outstretched arms and let herself be held for awhile. The others stepped closer, Stacie rubbing Beca's back, CR tapping her on the shoulder. Beca let go of Amy and smiled weakly at everyone, then her eyes found Chloe's. The redhead seemed worried and Beca went over to her.  
"Can I talk to you for a minute?"  
"Sure," Chloe answered and they moved a short way away.  
"Okay, Bellas, let's try this once more. Maybe we can get some semblance of a choreo into this routine now that all of us are here," Aubrey waved the Bellas into their respective postitions and thus effectivey diverting their attentions away from Beca and Chloe. "From the top, 1,2,3,4..."  
Beca pushed her hands deeply into her jeans pockets when she turned to Chloe.  
"I'm sorry I'm so late," she said.  
"Have you been at Jesse's all this time?" Chloe asked and the smaller woman shook her head.  
"No, I... needed a little time to think."  
"Oh," Chloe couldn't contain the disappointment that creeped into even this small exclamation.  
"It was bad, Chlo. I broke his heart... like... I shattered him," she said and there were fresh tears flooding her eyes. Chloe didn't hesitate, she simply pulled Beca to her and into her arms. She held her tightly.  
"I know it's hard, baby. I know... but he'll get over it. He will... and he will see that it was better this way...," she tried to comfort her lover - if that was what Beca still wanted to be. Was it possible that all of this had simply overwhelmed her? That she needed more time to find herself? That she didn't want to be with her anymore?  
Chloe felt her own eyes tear up but she swallowed them. This wasn't about her, not at this moment, it was about Beca and about how far she wanted or could go.  
"He looked so... broken," Beca said, her voice clearer now, not choked by tears. "And I'm so sorry but I had to do it." They parted and looked at each other. Chloe nodded. "I couldn't be with him, not when..." She tried a small smile. "Not when I'm in love with someone else," she said and carressed Chloe's cheek. The redhead closed her eyes at the soft touch and the relief that seemed to shatter her body. "I love you so much, babe," Beca whispered close to Chloe's lips and a smile spread over those. Beca leaned in and kissed Chloe softly. Once, then again. Chloe's arms went around her waiste and pulled her closer.  
"Holy...!!!" Cynthia Rose was the first to see it and stopped so suddenly that she had Ashley run into her and Jessica into Ashley. Everyone stopped to look what had CR ruin another run at the choreo and then they all stared wide-eyed.  
"Wha... ahhhhhmmmmm...," but then even Amy fell silent. Aubrey turned from the group to Beca and Chloe, she was the only one who wasn't surprised to see them kiss. She smiled but then sighed.  
"Alright, show's over. Beca, Chloe, could you... please!" Chloe giggled as they parted, Beca merely blushed but she was now smiling.  
"That was the fastest hook-up in the history of break-ups," Amy murmured and some of her fellow Bellas nodded. Beca and Chloe came back over to the group, holding hands.  
"Not quite, Amy, we... actually things have kind of developed into this direction for awhile," Chloe told them.  
"Really? I didn't see that coming," Cynthia Rose said. The other Bellas all shook their heads, agreeing that this was news. Amy looked at Aubrey suspiciously:  
"You knew, though, and didn't say a word," she said. Aubrey looked back at her friends.  
"Well, sorry, but it was kind of obviious. The way they touched all the time and looked at each other...," she answered.  
"Yeah, but they've been doing that since... from the beginnning. Do you remember hood night? I was sure they were going to kiss," Stacie piped up and everybody once again nodded to that.  
"Or in the pool as they sang to each other? That was not gay at all," Cynthia Rose said.  
"*whisper* hands in each other's pants *whisper*", came from Lilly and everybody looked at her confusedly. Beca might have blushed but Chloe just grinned.  
"That was one time and I was looking for the pitch pipe," she clarefied and everybody nodded.  
"Right, the pitch pipe...," Amy nodded but grinned. Aubrey started laughing and then Amy was, too, and everybody else joined in.  
Beca wouldn't have thought that she would be able to do this - not with Jesse's broken heart on her conscience, not with everything that was going through her mind - but laughing with her friends lifted some of the weight from her shoulders.  
"So, you guys are okay with...," she lifted her and Chloe's entwined hands. "... this?"  
"Yeah, sure," Ashley said.  
"Absolutely," Amy agreed.  
"Right," Cynthia Rose said proudly and bumped fists with Beca's free hand. The others also agreed, everybody but Aubrey. The group looked at her expectantly. The blonde locked eyes with Beca.  
"If you hurt her, I'll come back and hunt you down. Just so you know." Beca nodded.  
"Sounds fair," she said. She walked over to the blonde who looked suspiciously down on her.  
"What are you doing?" she asked.  
"I'm gonna hug you now," Beca said and put her arms around the slim blonde. Aubrey lifted her own arms in protest but Beca pulled their bodies together and didn't let go. The other Bellas chuckled and then Aubrey put her arms around Beca's shoulders and hugged her back.  
"Awww, you guys. I knew you liked each other," Chloe squealed and joined in the hug. It didn't take the other Bellas long to do the same and then they all stood in a big huddle.  
"You're gonna pay for this, Mitchell," Aubrey said into the quiet that followed.  
"I think I already am. Did somebody just pick-pocket me?"   
"That's just me, honey," Chloe assured her and everybody laughed again. They broke apart, all except for Beca and Chloe who started kissing again.  
"Alright, alright," Aubrey said. "Let's call it a day. If those two keep it up I might lose my lunch."  
"Been there, seen that," Amy murmured but everybody started picking up their things and left the practice room.


	11. Chapter 11

They lay in bed, facing each other, their legs entwined, their arms around each other. Beca had told Chloe about her break-up with Jesse, what had been said and the way Jesse had handled it - or rather not handled it at all. They wondered what would happen next, whether Jesse was going to do anything, try to win Beca back, for example. Beca didn't think so. For once, there wasn't a lot of time left before he would leave for Hollywood, for another, she was sure she had taken any hope he might have concerning their relationship from him. She had left him nothing to hold on to.  
"He'll be alright, sweety," Chloe now told her and brushed a lock of hair from Beca's forehead. "He's going to go to Hollywood for that internship and... he'll be working on what he loves." Beca nodded.  
"What makes me so sad is that I knew I didn't love him as much as he loved me, you know. He always wanted to spend more time with me than I wanted to spend time with him. And, of course, he also wanted to spend that time differently than I did. How could I even think...?" Chloe leaned over Beca and kissed her temple.  
"Shhhh," she made. "Your mind's running in circles there, babe. Don't work yourself up over this, an outing needs time, even - or especially - when we come out to ourselves."  
"Did you have a hard time accepting that you liked girls?"  
"Are you kidding me? You don't know the lengths I went to to deny that I... wanted another woman. My first times with women, even just kissing, I was drunk... or pretended to be. After awhile it just wouldn't sail anymore. I met this girl, she was working in a record store and I would always come in before school and after school. She totally fascinated me... one day she came over to me and asked why I was stalking her. I blushed but said that I liked her. She took me home, we had... sex... it wasn't anything more to her and then she sent me home to deal with the fact that I had just had the most intense orgasm of my young life," Chloe smiled. "Until then, not since then," she added when she saw Beca's frown.  
"Good safe," the DJ complimented. They smiled at each other.  
Beca let her hand drift under Chloe's sleeping shirt, pulling her a little closer and kissing her.  
"When did you first... sleep with another girl?" She asked after they parted. Chloe smiled.  
"I was sixteen. Her name was Angela, she was... on the girl's basketball team and she was gorgeous. We were at a party at a friend's and when I arrived she was just exiting the whirl pool." Chloe smiled wickedly. "I knew that I had to... have her. I had made out with girls before - as I said, drunkenly - and I felt ready for the next step. So, for the next three hours I executed an intricate scheme of seduction... it was insane but it worked. I went down on her in the bedroom of the seven-year-old brother of the hostess - he wasn't there, of coruse, he was at a friend's."  
"Wow," Beca said.  
"Yeah... it was amazing but I didn't allow myself to admit it."  
"How does that work... I mean, not the going down part, obviously...," they giggled.  
"No, you got that down already," Chloe agreed and leaned in for a deep kiss.  
"Hmmm, nice." Beca murmured. "What was I... oh, yeah. You denied your attraction even after you had gone down on this... on Angela? How did you do that? I mean... compared to that I was pretty quick to notice."  
"Not to crush your pipe-dream there but you were still pretty slow. You're 19, almost 20. I was 17 when I came out, not only to myself but also to my family. It's not like it's a competition, or that you should have known earlier... everybody needs their own time to figure this out. I was 15 when I first had sex - it was actually just a few days after my 15th birthday," Chloe said and smiled a little sadly.  
"What happened?" Beca asked and carressed the redhead's cheek.  
"He was older, 21... a high school drop-out, working at a gas station. I had kind of a wild phase and... didn't go to school all the time. I would go over to the station, flirt with him - he was a good-looking guy - let him ogle me. One day, his boss wasn't there, he was on some business and Sam asked me to come into the workshop to show me something. I knew what he wanted and I still went... so, my first time was on the hood of an old chevy. It was... painful and meaningless, somehow just to get it over with. I was lucky that I didn't get pregnant because we didn't use protection."  
"I'm so sorry," Beca said and pulled Chloe yet a little closer. Chloe shook her head.  
"I was an early bloomer, as they say. I... you know me, I like to be close to people, or have to be close to people. It makes me feel warm and good. And back then... I didn't have people around who could deal with it a lot. My family thought I was odd that way - and you really don't need that kind of label when you're a teen and don't feel comfortable in your body to begin with. I felt awkward and I just wanted to be close to someone. I chose the wrong someone and the wrong way to establish that. I mean, it's not wrong to have sex when you know what you're doing but I didn't know then. I was too young."  
"I'm glad I waited," Beca said.  
"I'm glad you waited, too. It was so beautiful to be with you last night. You're so...." Chloe smiled brightly and kissed Beca.  
"I'm what?" Beca asked between kisses but her question didn't get answered for a long while as they kissed and touched and undressed each other.  
"I'll show you," Chloe finally said and kissed her way down Beca's body.

Beca came down the stairs of the B&B with her mother's overnight bag, she had insisted on carrying it and Chloe smiled up at her when she saw the small brunette maneuver the big bag.  
"Did you mom plan on staying a year, or something?"  
"Are you kidding me? In my mom's book, this is light traveling," Beca gave back as she put the bag down next to her girlfriend's feet.  
"You know I can hear you, girls," Grace called from the top of the stairs. She smiled down at the two young women as Chloe slipped her fingers between Beca's and leaned into her. The redhead was very touchy-feely and Grace had to wonder at her daughter's patience with it - though patience didn't seem the right word, she rather seemed to crave the contact almost as much as the other woman. It was remarkable.  
Grace came down the stairs and after they all said their goodbyes to the proprietor they exited the building to wait for Justin. Chloe had brought coffee for them all and they were sipping it in companionable silence until Grace said:  
"Do you know when you're coming to visit?" She asked Beca but included Chloe with a an easy smile.  
"We haven't yet hammered out all our plans for the summer - maybe two weeks, maybe a month," Beca said and smiled at her mother.  
"And you both gonna stay for awhile, right? A week, at least."  
"I was thinking more like ten days, then we can go up to my parent's for my brother's birthday," Chloe contemplated.  
"So, I guess one of us has already thought this through," Beca grinned and her girlfriend laughed. "Seems I'm not up to speed, I'll try to catch up," she told Chloe.  
"That's okay, I'll draw you a schematic," the taller girl gave back and pulled Beca into a hug. They couldn't resist the closer contact which led to a kiss and another.  
Grace chuckled.  
"Young love," she murmured.  
"You got that right," Chloe confirmed when she and Beca finally broke their lip-contact. She smiled at Grace confidently and the older woman had to laugh. There was abolutely no false self-consciousness in the young woman who loved her daughter. She would always be open and honest with Grace and Beca's mother appreciated it.  
"I haven't told you yet how glad I am that you two are together, have I?" She asked.  
"Mom," Beca warned.  
"No, I know. I sometimes go a little overboard, and I created a mess but... I'm happy that you could clean it up and be together." Grace said. Chloe let go of her girlfriend and came over to her mother, she hugged her.  
"So am I;" she said as Grace rather tentatively hugged her back. "I'm sorry, I'm always doing that... hugging and touching."  
"That's okay, honey. I'm much more of a hugger than this one here," she pointed at Beca as Chloe let go of her.  
"That's hard to believe, she's such a cuddler," the redhead said and saw her girlfriend blush a bright red. Chloe laughed. "Well, you are."  
"Whatever," Beca tried to play it cool but Chloe wasn't having any of it. She simply stepped into the brunette's personal space and hugged her tight.  
"And I'm so glad you are," she said. Beca rolled her eyes but more at herself than at her girlfriend because she really liked being so close to Chloe and she couldn't hide the smile that had latched onto her face permanently by now. Chloe gave her another small kiss before leaning against the garden wall next to her, bumping shoulders, holding hands.  
"There's one thing I wanted to talk to you about," Grace said and Beca turned to her. "Your dad." The older woman sighed.  
"What about dad?"  
"I told you that we talked and... well, he didn't say it but... I know that he really would like to spend more time with you. And I think you should go and talk to him and tell him about... you and Chloe," Grace said earnestly and Beca looked at her. Her face grew pensive. "And you should do it soon," her mother added.  
Beca nodded, though still thoughtful.  
"I would have done it eventually," she said.  
"You mean, you would have sent him a wedding-invitation?" Grace asked and Beca blushed. Chloe giggled.  
"I..."  
"You're a lot like me, Beca. I never wanted to talk to Ken about anything that has happened, how much he hurt me. I just put up a brave front. But he's your father and I really want you to give him another chance. You're an adult now and you can make your own decision about it, of course, but... he's really not a bad guy... he's a little bit of a chicken but he's not a bad guy." The words lingered between mother and daughter.  
"Do you want me to come with you?" Chloe asked and Beca looked at her with loving eyes. She shook her head, though.  
"No, I will go over later and... talk to him. I'll tell him about you and I... and maybe some other stuff," she said. Chloe nodded.  
"Thank you, angel," her mother leaned toward her and kissed her cheek.  
"Yeah, yeah. The emotional rollercoaster continues, fasten your seatbelts," the brunette groused and her girlfriend ruffled her hair.  
"You poor little lamb," she teased and Beca grimaced.  
"You'll be careful, Beale. Calling me cute animal names might drive me away," she groused.  
"Oh, my little kitten. You sweet puppy. My own little baby seal, I'm so in love wth you," she cooed and took Beca's face between her hands, giving her a smack on the lips.  
Grace laughed at the redhead's antics and her daughter's face. Then she saw a red camaro come down the street and she pushed herself off the garden wall. She threw her empty coffee cup into a trash can as the camaro pulled up next to her, it was Justin.  
"Hey, honey," he called as he exited the vehicle.  
"Hey, you goof, how was New Orleans?" She greeted her friend and he came over to hug her and then kiss her on the cheek.  
"A blast. That city's dynamite and unicorns, I swear," he enthused and grinned at the two younger women.  
"Sounds like just the place for us," Chloe asserted and smiled at Beca.  
"Only if I can be the dynamite," Beca gave back. She turned from her girlfriend and let herself get hugged by her mother's friend, a guy who had some part in her own upbringing as he and Grace had been together for most of her teens.  
"But you are my little baby unicorn," Chloe dead-panned. She laughed at the face Beca made, then she pulled out her hand to the tall African-American who she thought was still in love with Beca's mom. "Hi, I'm Chloe. I'm Beca's girlfriend," she introduced herself and Justin took her hand, at the same time looking surprised at Beca who grinned.  
"She's my girlfriend," the small brunette repeated.  
"Well, you got good taste, smarts," he complimented. "I'm Justin and it's a pleasure to meet you, Chloe. But... we have to be on our way, I want to beat any kind of traffic we might get on the way, so..." He picked up Grace's bag easily and put it in the trunk while Grace hugged Chloe.  
"You take care of my little angel, now," she said.  
"Will do," the redhead promised.  
"I can take care of myself," Beca protested.  
"What, you think you're a baby anaconda, now?" Chloe asked.  
"Stop it with the baby animals, already," the DJ gave back but grinned. 'Baby animals,' she shook her head. It was ridiculous but also kinda cute.  
Grace hugged her daughter, tightly.  
"I'm gonna miss you," she vowed.  
"I'll miss you, too, mom. I love you," Beca said and answered the hug fiercely.  
"I love you, angel, so much." For awhile they just stood, not moving, not letting go of each other. Chloe smiled up at Justin who rolled his eyes.  
"They're close," he commented.  
"Yeah, it's a good thing," Chloe answered and grinned at him. He laughed.  
Mother and daughter finally parted and Grace opened the passenger side door to Justin's car.  
"Remember your dad, Beca," she said.  
"Will do, mom. Have a save trip and call me when you get home," Beca answered and Grace waved.  
Beca then hugged Justin.  
"Take care of her," she told him.  
"Like she'll ever let me," he answered and sighed.  
Beca turned to the car for a moment to see that her mother was inside and couldn't hear them.  
"Why don't you ask her to marry you already?" she then asked the tall dark-skinned man.  
"Like I haven't. You mom doesn't want another husband and me... I'm too old to be with someone who lives one day at a time. You know I love your mom but I love her too much to just be casual," he said. Beca nodded, she reached out for Chloe's hand and they entwined fingers.  
"Keep trying, though. She loves you, we both know that." Justin nodded at Beca's words and squeezed her shoulder for a moment.  
"It was nice to meet you, Chloe. Take good care of smarts, here, huh?"  
"I got that covered," the redhead answered to the amused head-shake of her girlfriend. Justin waved as he walked around the car. Beca walked next to the passenger side window which Grace lowered.  
"Bye, angel, bye, Chloe," she waved and the young women answered in kind. Then the camero roared to life and moved from the sidewalk onto the street. It didn't take long for it to disappear around the next corner. Beca kept staring at the place where it had disappeared.  
"Why does Justin call you smarts," Chloe asked close to her ear and the brunette had to grin.  
"When he and mom first got together I was a total brat. I didn't want him anywhere near her and would give flippant answers to anything he'd say. He started calling me smart aleck which eventually shortened to smarts - I always thought that it had a double meaning, that my behavior in the beginning smarted." Beca turned to Chloe. She smiled self-deprecatingly.  
"Well, you're still a smart-aleck, obviously," Chloe confirmed. "Would it be aweful if I called you that, too?" Beca smiled.  
"No, I actually like it... don't tell Justin, though. And I figure it is better than baby sloth."  
"Did you know that a maverick is a baby calf who lost its mother?", Chloe asked as they started walking toward the next busstop to get back to campus.  
"Is that just a fun fact or are you trying to tell me something?"  
"Just a fun fact, smarts," the redhead answered, swinging their entwined hands.


	12. Chapter 12

Chloe was entering the apartment to a reading Aubrey lounging on the couch.  
"Hey, bestie," she greeted enthusiastically and skipped over to the couch to just smile down at her friend.  
"Where's Beca? Don't tell me you guys are already sick of each other?" Aubrey asked, smirking slightly.  
"No, never," Chloe sat down on the couch, lifting her friend's legs to put them over her lap. The tall blonde sat up and put her book on the coffee table.  
"So, where is she? She's not already packing her things to move in here, right? Because I paid rent until the end of the month," Aubrey said good-naturedly.  
"No, she's gone over to her dad's. Her mom asked her to talk to him... and tell him about us," the redhead answered smilingly.  
"So, her mom knows and is okay with it?" Aubrey asked surprised and Chloe nodded.  
"Told yeh, she'd be. We're gonna visit her during the summer and then go visit my folks."  
"Wow, this is... all going pretty fast," Aubrey said, trying hard not to frown. Chloe took her friend's hands and squeezed them.  
"I know but think about how long I've had feelings for Beca... and I guess it's also been awhile since she's had feelings for me though she wouldn't admit to them. We've wanted to be together for some time and now that we are... I'm happy, Bree."  
"I can see that and am happy for you," the blonde answered.  
"But?"  
"Maybe I'm a little bit envious, or even jealous," Aubrey admitted. She looked into the redhead's eyes who were bright and shining and entirely without judgement.  
"No, I don't think you are. Not jealous, at least. We've been over for so long, you were never jealous of anyone I've been with," Chloe told her friend. "And if you're envious, there's only one thing to do: find yourself someone to love. I know there's plenty of peeps out there who would be happy to have someone as aca-amazing as you are." Chloe brushed a lock of hair from her friend's face then carressed her cheek.  
"Thanks for not saying 'women'," Aubrey said seemingly non-chalant but at the same time she took her legs from Chloe's to simply sit next to her.  
"I don't know if you like women - or men or both, for that matter. You never told me," Chloe said, rubbing the blonde's back as she leaned forward to take her cup with coffee from the table. Aubrey looked at her and sighed.  
"I wish I knew. I wish...," but she stopped, shaking her head.  
"You will find out," her friend told her and smiled.  
"But even if I do, will I ever be... brave enough to stand by that person? I didn't with you. I let Alice walk all over you," Aubrey said and reached out her hand. Chloe took it. "I'm sorry."  
"That was then, this is now, Bree. We both know how Alice was... she was a bitch - and nothing but. I don't know how a single person can accumulate so much hate and still function. I would go positively mad."  
"You couldn't even do that if you tried - you are far to good a person, Chlo." Aubrey smiled tenderly at her best friend who simply smiled back.  
"I'm not perfect, you know that."  
"Who needs perfect when one has Chloe," the blonde gave back and squeezed Chloe's hand before letting go.  
"Whatever, but... you'll find someone. Someone who just... blows you away, who's just on the right side of wrong, someone cool enough to put up with your controlling tendencies but warm enough to hold you when you need to be held. I want that for you and I'm gonna see it happen. And when it does, you'll stand up to your dad and your mom because you know that that person will give you something your parents don't."  
"My parents love me," Aubrey argued.  
"I was talking about multiple orgasms, sweety," Chloe grinned and Aubrey almost choked on the coffee she was drinking. Chloe laughed but slapped her friend on the back.  
"That was evil."  
"But I really want that for you," the redhead insisted.  
"Well, it's not on the bottom of my list, so..." They smiled at each other. "I'm happy you're happy, you know that, right?" Chloe nodded. "I might not think that Beca is the best girlfriend in the world, nor anywhere near worthy of you but... she makes you happy and that's all that counts."  
"She's not the only one who makes me happy, though, Bree. You do, too. As do the Bellas, my family. I love you all, I just happen to be in love with Beca. She's so cute, and she would really hate if she knew I'm telling you this," Chloe giggled. "I met her mom's friend today, Justin. And he calls her smarts and I'm gonna call her smarts from now on, too." Aubrey raised an eyebrow at that.  
"Smarts? Doesn't sound like Beca," she commented but grinned.  
"It's for smart aleck," Chloe told her.  
"Now, that I can agree with," Aubrey gave back.  
"Don't tell her I told you that, please."  
"I won't," Aubrey promised. Then she leaned back and put her head on Chloe's shoulder. They were once again holding hands. "I'm gonna miss you, you know?"  
"And I you," Chloe assured her friend.  
"Can I call you when my mom drives me crazy?"  
"Of course, anytime."  
"You should check on that with Beca," Aubrey said.  
"Our friendship won't take a backseat to my relationship, Bree."  
"I don't mind the backseat as long as I'm still in the same car with you guys," the blonde told Chloe.  
"That was almost poetic," Chloe gave back and they chuckled.  
"Promise me one thing, though?"  
"Yes," Chloe promised without hesitation.  
"You don't even know what it is yet," Aubrey said and looked up at the redhead.  
"I'd promise you anything because I trust you not to ask the impossible," Chloe gave back and grinned. Aubrey rolled her eyes.  
"Let's not become facebook-friends," Aubrey said.  
"We already are facebook-friends," Chloe said and looked at Aubrey quizzically.  
"That's not what I mean. I just don't want to keep in touch with you via facebook or twitter. I want real conversations on the phone or over skype. And I want you to visit me and I want to visit you. We're gonna see each other as often as possible, promise me." Chloe smiled brightly at her friend and held up her little finger.  
"I pinky swar," she said.  
"Oh, Chloe, how old are you?" Aubrey sighed.  
"I pinky swear," Chloe repeated and the taller woman finally linked her own pinky with Chloe's. "You'll always be my best friend and I'll always want to talk to you and see you. And we'll still be visiting each other when we both have kids and minvans, when we have grandchildren and rockers on the porch. Even when one of us is dead the other will come and visit and tell what's happening in the world. I swear." Aubrey laughed.  
"I swear," she said. Chloe pulled Aubrey's face to her and pecked her on the lips. Then they hugged tightly.

Beca passed the garden wall and came upon a domestic scene she hadn't expected to see: her father was mowing the lawn, Sheila was tending to some flowers and Travis was cutting a hedge. They weren't talking to each other, probably because of the noise of the mower, but a companionable atmosphere hung in the air, underlined by the table that held ice-tea and three glasses and some snacks. It was a family scene and Beca felt like an intruder.  
Travis was the first to notice her and he nodded at her before waving at his step-dad and pointing at her. Ken Mitchell cut off the mower and turned.  
"Beca, hey, I wasn't expecting you," he said.  
"Sorry, this is a bad moment. I should have called," she apologized and was about to leave again.  
"It's not a bad moment at all," he said and she turned back to him, biting her lower lip.  
"So, you got time to talk?" She asked awkwardly. He smiled.  
"Sure, let's go inside. Travis, could you finish here when you're done with the hedge?"  
"Yeah, sure," the lanky teenager answered not overly eager but not nearly as antagonistic as Beca might have been at his age.  
Beca looked over to Sheila who smiled at her and waved, Beca nodded at her. Then she followed her dad into the house, they passed the living room and went into his study.  
"Do you want something to drink? Some ice-tea, maybe? Sheila's is really good," her father offered but Beca shook her head.  
"No, thanks, I'm good."  
"Good," he gestured for her to sit down and she did on a comfy leather sofa while he took the accompanying arm chair. "So?" he said, obviously wanting for her to begin this conversation.  
"I wanted to apologize for... just leaving here the other day and never calling to say I was okay. That was not very mature. I should have known that you would worry. I just... that night was... pretty eventful," she finally got out, not wanting to go into detail about what happened after she'd left. Her dad nodded.  
"It certainly was. Your mom was pretty upset and... well, I'm not even sure what happened between the two of you. Your mother wouldn't elaborate on it and what I gathered from your conversation was a little confusing," he admitted.  
"Mom and I had a conversation - a disagreement, I guess - before I came to study here. She indicated that I might... like girls. She actually was pretty sure that I had romantic feelings for a friend of mine at the time... and I guess with all that's happened these last few days, she wasn't entirely wrong. I do like women... that is, I do like Chloe and she likes me. We're together now," Beca told her father, attentively watching for a reaction. His face grew thoughtful and she waited impatiently for what he would say to this.  
"What about Jesse? You two seemed... well, happy, I would say. Not that I saw a lot of you together but..."  
"Jesse and I are over. I told him yesterday and... well, I guess I broke his heart but I didn't see that I had a choice in it. It took me long enough to admit to... my attraction toward women, I couldn't go around pretending after I had... admitted to it. I mean, yeah, we were okay together... I really like him but I kinda knew that... there was something lacking in our relationship and I guess it was me... not being really attracted to him," Beca blushed slightly, her hands working each other over her nervousness. She still wasn't sure what her dad thought about her coming out and it unsettled her more than she would have liked to admit.  
Ken nodded.  
"Well, I guess that was the best thing to do then. I mean I liked him but it's your relationship and if you're happier with Chloe then... you should be with her," he looked up at her and into her eyes and it hit Beca than that there was a parallel at work here she hadn't seen before: her father left her mom to be with Sheila, she had broken up with Jesse to be with Chloe. Of course, there was the twist that she not simply fell in love with someone else but that she also came out in the process but still... could she still be angry with him for leaving her mother when she had pretty much done the same thing?  
The answer was 'no' but then, her parents' divorce had never been just about them - he had abandoned her as well - and she was still not quite ready to forgive him for that.  
"Thank you, dad. I... I'm glad you see it that way. I'm in love with Chloe and... well, you're gonna meet her eventually. I mean, of course, you already met at the finals but... you know." Beca smiled coyly.  
"And I'm looking forward to it," he said and smiled. "I'm proud of you, Beca, for coming here today and telling me all this. I know this can't be easy," he reached his hand out and covered hers with his own bigger one. She looked up at him and also smiled.  
"Mom asked me to come by and tell you. She... she says you want to spend more time with me and... dad, I'm not against that, I just... I don't want you on my case about all kinds of stuff. I'm an adult now and I want you - that is both mom and you - to trust me that I know what I'm doing. Okay?"  
He looked at her intently.  
"I just think your studies should be your highest priority, Beca. An education is so important in our current economy. I can't just..."  
"Let me live my own life?" She interrupted him before he could start a rant.  
"That's not... I want for you to have the best possible education."  
"And I want to make music," she told him.  
"Then study music," he gave back and she rolled her eyes.  
"I know the theory, dad, I read everything that was out there in like 7th to 9th grade because it interested me. I'll not be learning anything new if I'm taking these classes you want me to take," Beca explained and her father sighed.  
"I just..."  
"I know, dad, but trust me: I know what I'm doing. I will stay for now - more for the Bellas and Chloe. But maybe going to L.A. for the summer wasn't such a bad idea - not this summer but maybe the next," she added before Ken could interrupt her. "I can work this summer, safe some money... though I'd probably need some help from you and mom if I want to go to L.A. in a year. Maybe Chloe wants to go, too, if we're still together - God, I hope we are. I just... I'm not quitting, dad, but... let me do it my way, please?" She could see that he wanted to argue his points some more, that he really wanted her to see why it was all so important and she gave him some credit for simply nodding at this point.  
"Alright," he said. "As long as you're staying enrolled and, you know, make your a cappella thing... I guess." She smiled at him.  
"You like the Bellas, don't you?" Her father laughed.  
"They... You're all very talented. I liked the show we saw and I hope we can come to all of them the coming year. Sheila enjoyed it, too."  
"Working with those girls is the best," Beca said truthfully but still a little reluctantly. She just hoped her dad would never tell her friends she'd said that - she would never live it down. After all, she was supposed to be all cool and aloof, not someone to girl out over being in the best a cappella group in the U.S. - she smirked.  
"And you're obviously very good at it. I'm proud of you and... I know I've already said that but I think it's worth repeating. Maybe you can come over someday for dinner and bring Chloe... you think you could do that?"  
"Erm, sure... I think Chloe would like that. She likes family time and people and all that...." Ken laughed at this assessment not only of Chloe but of Beca's own very different preferences and her reluctance to admit that she might like it, too. That was so like Beca.  
"Great," he said.  
Beca stood up, she felt that this was her cue to go. Her father got up as well and opened his arms in an obvious question. Beca stepped into the embrace, felt her father's acceptance. It was good but it wasn't quite as important as her mother's had been, always would be. Whatever happened, this would always be a reserved relationship, tinged with guilt and criticism - even if these were in the past. They would never have an ideal father-daughter-relationship, if something like that actually existed. But they would work on it and Beca felt - probably for the first time since her dad had left her - that it might be worth it.


	13. Graduation Day

The celebratory excitement was palpable as Chloe pulled Beca over the commons which looked a lot different today than any other day. But this day was special and everybody was feeling it, even Beca who would have to wait for her own graduation at least another three years - if the day ever came. They were on their way to meet the other Bellas, of course, to prepare for their set during the celebration. They just wanted to go through the routine once more to see if everything fit, if there was enough space on the stage so they wouldn't bump into each other and for a sound check before the guests - their audience - arrived.  
Beca and Chloe were already late and the DJ wasn't really in a hurry to get anywhere fast. They had had a lazy morning together, kissing, cuddling and making love and Beca thought she had earned the right to some downtime - especially since Aubrey wouldn't be at their last rehearsal since her parents had arrived the night before and she was in all kinds of knots about that.  
"Come on, Beca, if you don't move that cute behind of yours a little faster the girls are gonna think we're not taking this seriously and..."  
"Hey, Beca," a voice interrupted Chloe in her ramblings and both women looked behind themselves to see Dr. Mitchell jogging towards them.  
"Oh, hey, dad," Beca greeted when he reached them. He hugged her one-armed and also a little awkwardly but it was okay for a first try.  
"I thought you guys had abandoned the flight attendant uniform for more comfortable clothes," her dad commented on Chloe's outfit. And indeed, she was wearing the tight skirt, shirt and vest of a Barden Bella pre-Mitchell-takeover (as Aubrey had coined it). She had her scarf in her hand but would tie it around her neck before they would perform.  
"It's only for our first performance. It's a little bit of a medley about the last year, so, some of us are wearing these, while the rest...," Chloe pointed at Beca.  
"... go for casual." Beca was wearing jeans and a tank.  
"I see. Well, I'm sure it'll be great. I'm looking forward to it," Ken assured the girls.  
"Is your wife going to join you, or is this more like a professional duty?" the redhead asked.  
"Oh, Sheila and Travis are gonna be here later. I had some things to do at the office and I thought I might see you here."  
"Well, here we are," Beca said awkwardly while Chloe smiled at her fondly. "I mean you know each other, I don't have to formally introduce you as my father and my girlfriend, right?" The brunette blushed, she wasn't any good at situations like this and it showed.  
"No, we have met, of course. It's nice seeing you again, Chloe," Beca's father smiled at the young woman who was very obviously in love with his daughter. She was still holding her hand and leaning into her.  
"Same here, although we should really be going. We're meeting the other Bellas for a last check-up before the show," Chloe explained.  
"Well, I don't want to keep you," Ken said and smiled.  
"That's okay, dad. We got the routine down, the girls are over-prepared, the only thing that really needs checking are the microphones, so..."  
"And you're cocky if you think there can't go anything wrong. Did you know that the Harmonics would have placed at regionals two years ago if it hadn't been for two of them colliding on stage?" Chloe looked a Beca challengingly, both eyebrows raised.  
"Are you expecting me to make a quip on their horniness, or...?" the brunette gave back and smirked.  
"Funny but you really don't wanna go there and it's beside the point... they're waiting for us. It was nice to see you again. Maybe we can talk a little later... though Aubrey's parents will probably want to invite us all to dinner or something...," this was mostly directed at Beca.  
"Do we have to go?" the DJ asked.  
"Yes," Chloe answered and there was absolutely no room for debate in her voice.  
"Well, I guess you should hurry then. I'm certain we'll be able to meet over the summer. It would be great if you two could come over for a barbecue," he suggested and Chloe smiled at him.  
"That would be great. I love barbecues," she told him. Beca rolled her eyes but was also sporting a goofy grin that told her girlfriend as well as her father that she was okay with it. "Bye, Dr. Mitchell," Chloe waved.  
"Bye, girls," her answered and Beca simply raised her hand.  
"Man, when did you guys become best friends?" she grumbled under her breath.  
"Someone's grumpy cat today," Chloe commented while still pulling her girlfriend behind her.  
"Didn't I tell you to stop with the animals?" Beca gave back and pulled them both to a stop. She weaved her arms around Chloe's waiste and kissed her. "I just... want to have a little more time with you, is all. Is that so bad?"  
"It's not bad, it's just a little inconvenient right now," Chloe answered but let herself be hugged and kissed.  
"I don't care," Beca said and pressed her lips insistently to Chloe's. The redhead let her, deepening the kiss and indulging in her own passion for a short while. Then she pulled away.  
"You know the girls are gonna comment on us having had sex whenever we're late from now on, right?" She asked with a smirk and saw her girlfriend blush.  
"Damn," Beca said. "they will. Couldn't you have warned me about this earlier?" She asked while breaking into a light jog and pullling a laughing Chloe behind her. 

The dean had just finished his lengthy speech. There was some commotion as he sat down and the audience restlessly exchanged some words while still clapping for the elderly gentleman whose speeches were as boring as the day was hot. Then suddenly - and the speakers that had been set up all around the assembly made it sound like it came from all around them - Chloe's beautiful soprano broke through with the first line of The Sign:  
"I - I got a new life, you would hardly recognize me, I'm so glad..." accompanied by Stacie and Jessica. They stepped onto the stage, all three in their Bellas uniforms, looking, for all intends and purposes, very much like part of the group that had ceased to exist over a year ago. Their choreo was the same they had rehearsed so often late the year before, they were all sexy womanly-ness, no hair on their heads was in disorder, no note they sang was too high or low. These were the perfect a cappella girls and their song was... interrupted when Cynthia Rose, Lilly and Denise jumped onto the stage - Lilly beatboxing Price Tag, as CR was belting out the song. They pushed the other Bellas to the sidelines in their mixed outfits from the ICCA finals which they had won - until they were interrupted by Beca, Amy and Ashley singing Mickey - all of them in some semblence of what they had worn to the riff-off though adapted to the warmer temperatures of this fine day. They took center stage but from behind them the original Bellas came though and again Chloe's soprano captured the audience with the beginning of Eternal Flame - but instead of a riff-off-like battle of voices they mixed, the finals girls jumping in with Don't You (Forget About Me) and the riff-off-girls with No Diggity. It was certainly a queer mix but these songs sounded great together and the audience was certainly surprised and delighted to see these nine amazing performers 'crushing it.'  
Aubrey from her place among her fellow-graduates watched every move, listened to every note her friends sang and had to admit, they were perfect. She smiled delightedly as she turned to see how her parents liked it. Her mother had a dreamy smile on her face - Aubrey couldn't tell if from the performance or the valium she was taking - and her dad looked a little less displeased than usual. In Aubrey Posen's book this constituted as a success and she smiled even more brightly as her eyes found the stage with her friends again. They were amazing and the audience thanked them with a less tempered applause than the dean had received for his speech after Beca finished this strange combo with:  
"We out!"  
The Bellas left the stage, smiling and waving. And before the audience could recover from the performance, the next speaker stepped onto the podium to give another not quite as lengthy but certainly as boring a speech as the dean had held. Behind the scenes, Chloe, Stacie and Jessica changed into some more comfortable clothes for the next song which was supposedly their last. Beca ogled her girlfriend as she was slipping out of her skirt and into a pair of tight-fitting jeans. Chloe winked at her as Amy whispered - for everyone to hear:  
"Take your pervy tendencies elsewhere, this is a decent backstage," and everyone stifled their laughter so as not to be overheard by the audience. They were all in a good mood, their last go-through had run smoothly, the mics were working.  
22 minutes later they all ran up onto the stage to more applause and started with Stayin' Alive, Beca working in Michael Jackson's Bad, imitating one of her favorite performers like she had done since she had first seen him dance on MTV when she was five years old. When she had first introduced the idea of doing Michael Jackson to the group, the girls had been understandably reluctant but then Beca had started doing it - and everybody had just been amazed. And she was good at it - everbody could see that now. The other Bellas changed pace and song into You Should Be Dancing, and Beca took her cue and did Thriller. The audience was thrilled - quite literally - and when Beca ended the song sinking onto her knees, everybody else was getting off of their chairs to applaud her and the other Bellas. The girls smiled, they waved, they laughed. They had been great, once again, and they would make sure to work this routine into their performance for the regionals.  
This should have been their last performance for the day, at least as far as their friend in the audience knew. Aubrey was delighted by their success, of course, but also a little nostalgic because from now on she would always just sit in the audience and watch and not even be able to see the Bellas' magic come to life behind the scenes. And if she was perfectly honest with herself, this was what she would miss most about college life - the Bellas, their friendship, their teasing, their happiness when things came together as they should. They were hard workers all, they were... simply aca-amazing.  
Their ex-captain sighed as she settled back to another - last - speech from someone who thankfully didn't bore everyone to pieces. It was one of Aubrey's own professors and she was talking quite elaborately about chances and challenges of the real world. Still, Aubrey's mind kept going back to all things Bellas, remembering her own audition, meeting Chloe for the first time, hood night and her unfortunate misstep with... a Treble who shall not be named, rehearsals with Alice that bordered on bullying just to stand in the background, swaying, doo-wah-ing... and then the first time solo-ing. It had been so much fun, so much hard work - and, of course, there was the humiliation of the finals where she lost her cookies. But the best part had come after that: the new Bellas. She would miss them so much.  
While Aubrey was still reminiscing the speech on the podium ended and everybody seemed ready to come to the last part of the celebration - the graduates... well, graduating. But not the dean's voice rang out of the speakers next, it was a voice that was far more familiar to Aubrey Posen, one that had aggrevated her but also fascinated her in its clear intensity. It was Beca Mitchell's and she was standing on the stage again, wearing leather pants of all things and an even more revealing top than before. Next to her stood Chloe in a light summer dress, very short and equally revealing. They held hands - as they did these days.  
"Hi, everyone. I'm Beca Mitchell, the new captain of the Barden Bellas," the brunette said but didn't get any further because Chloe piped in:  
"And I'm Chloe Beale, her co-captain...," she smiled and waved at the audience.  
"You have seen us performing today," Beca continued and some people felt it necessary to clap again. "Thank you. I know you're all eager to have the official part of this celebration over with and have a drink and something to eat but I have asked the organizers of this event for a couple more minutes and they were so nice to grant it because... one of our own is graduating today - our former captain and our friend Aubrey Posen. Hey, Aubrey, where are you, stand up...," Beca looked into the rows of green-robed graduates. Aubrey stared back for a moment but then the guy next to her thumbed her on the shoulder, encouraging her to do as Beca had asked and she stood up, smiling unsurely and mouthing 'What the hell?' toward the small brunette on the stage. Beca chuckled.  
"Aubrey has taught us all a lot this past year. Some very valuable life lessons actually: one, that cardio won't kill us, no matter how much we hate it; two, that in a cappella as in life, we work better as a team; and three, that love is worth taking risks for." Beca looked lovingly at Chloe and the redhead beamed at her. "You've been an aca-awesome captain and an even better friend - and Chloe forced me to say this," Beca smirked and Aubrey had to laugh as did some of the people in the audience and certainly every Bella backstage. "No, seriously, you're amazing and you'll always be one of us. So, in honor of you... one last song from the Bellas today. A little applause for Aubrey?" Beca asked of the audience who complied readily.  
The Bellas joined Beca and Chloe on the stage as Aubrey sat down in her seat again, staring at what was coming now.  
Denise and Ashley started a beat - which was a little faster than the original of the song they were now performing - while the other Bellas walked across the stage seemingly at random but, of cause, in perfect choreo when Stacie's voice rang out:  
"She hangs out every day near by the beach  
Havin’ a Heineken fallin’ asleep"  
Another beat set in at that moment and overlapped with the first and the audience first saw that the girls were now devided in two groups, the ones in summer dresses and the ones in leather pants - and those started rocking out to Ricky Martin's She Bangs - the songs mixing, weaving in and out of each other, bringing it all together in an hommage to their captain who could be the loveliest and the most charming but also the most aggrevating, bitchy - yet sexy - Bella they all knew. Aubrey had to laugh, the girls on the stage had a ball as the choreo was rather amateur since they had so little time to rehearse this. But the singing was spot on, Beca having once again found two songs that shouldn't go together but made them work somehow - a little like she and Aubrey.  
The performance ended and Aubrey found herself getting off her seat and weaving through the row of fellow-graduates, losing her baret but not caring one bit. She rushed on stage as the audience applauded the Bellas and pulled Beca into a fierce hug. Chloe wasn't being left out and she and the other Bellas joined in until they were all one big huddle. And just as the last time they had stood like this, Aubrey said to her successor:  
"You're gonna pay for this, Mitchell."  
"I already am," came the reply. "performing in leather in this heat? Not a good idea, these pants are killing me."  
"Yeah, me too," Chleo purred, letting her hand wander as everybody else laughed with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs: Mama I'm Strange by Melissa Etheridge, Don't You (Forget About Me) by Simple Minds, Titanium by David Guetta, The Sign by Ace of Base, Price Tag by Jessie J, Mickey by Toni Basil, Eternal Flame by The Bangles, No Diggity by Blackstreet, Stayin' Alive and You Should Be Dancing by The Bee Gees, Bad and Thriller by Michael Jackson, She by Groove Coverage, She Bangs by Ricky Martin. As with everything else, these songs don't belong to me and I'm not making any money mentioning them - mine is simply the joy of listening to them.


End file.
